»l 


REV.  CHARLES  KISSELMAN  IMBRIE,  D. 


11-2 

Im  I4in 
copy  2 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


'Jf. 


BX  9225  .142  142 
In  memoriam 


SAe//^^ 


«•*■  \ 


IFn  nDemodam. 


Rev.  Charles  Kisselman  Imbrie,  D.  D. 


BORN,    DECEMBER    I5,    1814. 
DIED,    NOVEMBER    20,    189I. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


SERMON. 


FUNERAL  EXERCISES. 


RESOLUTIONS. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH 

BY  THE 

REV.  WILLIAM   IMBRIE,  D.  D. 


FATHER  was  born  in  the  City  of  Philadelphia,  on  the  fifteenth 
day  of  December,  1814.  He  died  at  Jersey  City,  November 
20th,  1891. 

Grandfather  was  James  Imbrie,  a  merchant  of  Philadelphia,  born 
in  Scotland.  His  father,  grandfather,  and  great-grandfather  were  all 
ministers  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.  Grandmother  was  Margaretta 
Kisselman,  the  daughter  of  Frederic  Kisselman,  a  gentleman  who, 
during  the  Revolution,  honored  the  King  and  suffered  in  conse- 
quence. He  died  of  yellow  fever  ;  and  was  buried  before  his  wife, 
who  had  removed  from  the  city  to  escape  the  epidemic,  knew  her 
loss.  The  wife  was  left  a  widow  with  eleven  children,  and  with 
resources  enough  to  bring  them  up  and  educate  them  properly.  She 
was  a  woman  of  strong  character,  and  lived  to  a  great  age  beloved 
by  her  children  and  grandchildren,  with  a  love  not  quite  unmingled 
with  awe.  The  Kisselmans  were  members  of  the  Episcopal  Church  ; 
and  it  is  only  very  recently  that  the  family  pew  in  old  St.  Peters 
passed  into  other  hands  after  possession  during  nearly  a  hundred 
years. 

When  father  was  a  boy  of  nine  or  ten  years  of  age,  the  family  moved 
from  a  house  on  Spruce  Street  between  Third  and  Fourth,  to  one  on 
Sixth  Street  facing  Washington  Square.  This  was  a  pleasant  old- 
fashioned  house,  and  the  location  at  that  time  was  charming.  With 
this  house  were  associated  most  of  father's  memories  of  his  old  home. 
Nor  were  his  memories  those  of  place  alone.  Grandfather  was  a  man 
of  singular  beauty  of  countenance,  of  courtly  manners,  of  literary 
tastes,  of  strict  integrity,  and  though  somewhat  stern,  an  example  of 
kindliness.  His  children  all  loved  and  revered  him,  and  had  a  most 
grateful  recollection  of  his  Christian  walk  and  conversation.  Grand- 
mother was  a  Martha  rather  than  a  Mary  ;  but  one  of  those  of  whom 
Wisdom  says  "  Her  price  is  far  above  rubies."  And  so  it  was.  Her 
children  called  her  blessed,  and  her  husband  praised  her.  They  de- 
parted this  life  within  a  few  days  of  each  other ;  having  tarried  one 
or  the  other  until  a  good  old  age.  Grandfather  died  on  Good-Fri- 
day and  his  body  was  committed  to  the  tomb  on  Easter  Sunday. 

Father  was   the   third   in  a   family  of  four  children.     The   eldest, 


Jessie,  married  mother's  brother  Edward  Miller  of  blessed  memory. 
She  was  one  of  those  in  whom  strength  and  sweetness  are  woven 
together  ;  a  woman,  rich  in  love,  strong  in  faith,  constant  in  praj-er, 
zealous  of  good  works,  giving  glory  to  God.  Five  sons  and  five 
daughters  rose  up  to  do  her  honor.  The  second  child  was  James  ; 
long  an  elder,  first  in  the  Presbyterian  and  then  in  the  Reformed 
Church.  When  he  entered  into  rest  in  the  seventy-eighth  year  of  his 
age,  father  wrote  of  him,  "What  a  sweet  Christian  life  his  has  been. 
It  is  just  sixty  years  since  he  first  sat  down  at  the  Table  of  the  Lord  ; 
and  how  faithfully  he  has  walked  ever  since.  So  the  Lord  is  gather- 
ing us  one  by  one."  The  fourth  child,  Stark ey,  died  in  early  man- 
hood deeply  lamented.  When  mother  stood  looking  through  her 
tears  mto  his  dead  face  which  wasting  disease  had  robbed  of  its 
beauty,  father  said  to  her  with  trembling  lips,  "  But  think  of  him  as 
we  shall  see  him  when  he  is  changed  into  the  image  of  the  glory  of 
Christ."     And  so  this  generation  too  all  died  in  faith. 

As  the  custom  of  those  days  was,  father  began  school  before  he  was 
five  years  old.  On  returning  home  at  the  close  of  the  first  day  he 
weighed  with  himself  the  question  whether  or  not  he  would  prosecute 
his  studies  further.  Due  reflection,  however,  inclined  him  to  the 
belief  that  on  the  whole  the  end  justified  the  means.  Some  years 
afterwards  he  attended  the  Franklin  Institute,  a  school  which  had  a 
deservedly  high  reputation.  There  he  was  prepared  to  enter  college. 
In  a  conversation  with  Aunt  Jessie  I  learned  that  he  was  always  a 
leader  among  his  comrades  in  all  athletic  sports.  The  impression 
which  his  character  as  a  boy  made  upon  those  about  him  appears  in 
the  following  transcript  from  a  letter  recently  received  from  his  cousin 
and  companion  Bishop  Starkey.  "  He  was  always  correct  and  care- 
ful in  his  language  and  action  ;  reverent  in  thought ;  and  devout  as 
if  by  instinct.  This  was  so  marked  that  I  always  think  of  him  as  a 
religious  boy  and  never  otherwise.  Yet  he  kept  his  religion  to  him- 
self, and  the  other  boys  never  laughed  at  him  or  taunted  him  with  it. 
I  used  to  think  in  after  years,  when  we  met  occasionally,  that  I  had 
never  encountered  a  more  evenly  religious  life  than  his.  Apparently 
it  was  as  natural  for  him  to  be  devout  as  for  a  tree  to  bear  fruit. 
There  was  no  apparent  grafting  ;  the  tree  brought  forth  fruit  after  its 
kind." 

On  leaving  school  father's  first  choice  was  the  life  of  a  merchant. 
He  therefore  entered  a  wholesale  hardware  house,  where  he  formed 


or  confirmed  the  methodical  business  habits  which  were  characteris- 
tic of  him.  Two  years  later,  however,  he  determined  to  follow 
another  calling.  When,  as  a  child  of  the  Church,  he  claimed  his 
place  at  the  Table  of  the  Lord,  he  heard  a  voice  bidding  him  to 
preach  the  gospel.  On  declaring  his  decision,  the  head  of  the  house 
in  which  he  was  employed  said  to  him,  "  Charles,  if  you  will  remain 
with  us,  we  will  make  you  a  member  of  the  firm  when  you  are  of  age." 
It  was  a  house  conducting,  for  those  days,  an  extensive  business  ;  and 
many  years  ago  those  connected  with  its  management  retired  with 
honorable  fortunes  ;  but  he  counted  the  ministry  of  reconciliation 
greater  riches  than  any  earthly  treasure. 

This  decision  once  made  he  reviewed  his  studies  in  private  and 
entered  Princeton  College,  where  he  graduated  four  years  later  a 
member  of  the  class  of  1835.  His  college  record  runs  thus,  "In 
scholarship  he  stood  high,  being  seventh  in  honorial  grade  and  a 
speaker  at  Commencement.  He  was  chosen  to  deliver  an  address 
on  the  Fourth  of  July  and  as  Junior  orator."  During  the  Autumn  of 
1835  he  went  to  Natchez,  Mississippi,  where  for  a  year  he  served  as 
tutor  in  the  family  of  Dr.  Carr.  Dr.  Carr  he  always  remembered 
with  much  respect.  While  a  member  of  his  household  he  saw  slav- 
ery in  its  best  estate  ;  a  large  plantation,  inherited  by  a  good  man, 
anxious  to  do  what  was  right  but  often  puzzled  to  know  what  the 
right  was.  In  December  of  1836  he  returned  to  Princeton  and  en- 
tered the  Theological  Seminary.  Illness,  however,  compelled  him  to 
suspend  his  studies  and  rest  at  home  for  a  number  of  months. 
Accordingly  in  the  autumn  of  1837  he  once  more  entered  the  Junior 
class.  During  two  years  of  his  theological  course  he  was  also  tutor 
in  the  College.  Those  were  the  days  of  which  the  elder  graduates  of 
the  Seminary  ever  speak  with  such  affection  ;  the  days  when  Dr. 
Hodge  was  in  the  morning  of  his  strength,  and  when  Dr.  Alexander 
and  Dr.  Miller  were  Princeton's  crown  of  glory.  And  now,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1840,  after  these  eight  years  of  study  and  waiting,  he  was  licensed 
by  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  to  preach  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of 
God. 

During  the  following  month  father  was  invited  to  preach  before  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Rahway.  A  sermon  on  Sympathy,  which  is 
still  held  in  loving  remembrance  by  some  of  those  who  heard  it,  drew 
the  hearts  of  the  people  to  him  ;  and  on  January  5th,  1841,  he  was 
ordained  and  installed  as  pastor  by   the    Presbytery   of  Elizabeth. 


10 

That  pastorate  continued  for  eleven  years  ;  and  many  of  its  incident 
have  been  fastened  in  the  family  memory  by  affectionate  recitation. 
It  was  to  the  old  Rahway  parsonage  that  in  the  flowering  month  of 
May  he  brought  home  his  bride.  There  was  his  garden  in  which  he 
took  such  keen  delight  ;  and  where  the  joy  of  an  occasional  triumph 
over  some  other  gardener  to  the  manner  born,  gave  proof  that  he  had 
not  yet  quite  flung  away  ambition.  Into  that  home  the  children 
came.  There  he  learned  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  a  young  pastor's  life  ; 
the  sorrow  with  which  he  once  wrote  in  the  Records  of  the  Session, 
"The  church  has  to  mourn  that  during  the  year  but  one  has  been 
added  to  it  from  the  world  ";  and  the  joy  with  which  he  also  inscribed 
a  record  of  praise,  when  sixty-seven  of  his  people  had  confessed  Christ 
before  men.  Among  these  years  too  was  the  year  of  the  cholera  ; 
when,  as  mother  used  to  say,  it  seemed  as  if  the  gate  never  opened 
excepting  for  a  messenger  to  say  that  some  one  was  dying  and  wanted 
to  see  father.  But  the  event  for  which  the  Rahway  pastorate  will 
chiefly  be  remembered  is  the  organization  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church,  on  November  9th,  1849.  Of  the  thirty-five  members  who 
went  out  to  form  the  new  congregation,  many  were  among  father's 
dearest  friends  and  most  highly  prized  co-workers.  The  four  elders 
whom  he  counseled  to  go  with  the  flock  were  men  of  whom  he  wrote, 
"our  beloved  brethren  with  whom  we  have  so  long  taken  sweet 
counsel,  without  a  single  interruption  to  disturb  our  fellowship." 
But  he  bade  them  go  with  joy.  In  1889  the  Second  Church  met  to 
celebrate  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  its  birth.  The  love  which  greeted 
him  on  that  occasion  touched  him  deeply.  Every  little  incident  con- 
nected with  the  services  awakened  interest  in  his  heart  and  found  a 
welcome  place  in  his  letters;  "  How  it  carried  me  back,"  he  wrote, 
"  to  the  scenes  of  that  day  forty  years  ago.  So  many  whose  names  were 
mentioned  are  gone  ;  and  all  the  memories  are  so  precious.  It  was 
a  joyful  and  yet  a  tearful  time."  Yes,  the  recollection  of  the  Rah- 
way pastorate  brought  not  a  little  joy  to  his  serene  spirit.  "  You 
love  him  and  revere  him  when  he  comes  among  you,"  said  a  later 
pastor  of  the  Church,  "  Because  he  was  your  faithful  pastor,  because 
he  lived  a  holy  life  among  you  ;  and  with  great  diligence,  faithful- 
ness and  tenderness,  preached  unto  you,  Jesus  ;  because  with  his 
sympathetic  heart  he  was  the  partner  of  your  sorrows,  the  sharer  of 
your  joys."  And  on  the  day  when  father  closed  his  next  long  pas- 
torate, he  on  his  part  spoke  of  Rahway,  as  the  place  where  he  "  had 
served  as  pastor  to  a  most  affectionate  and  beloved  people." 


11 

Near  the  close  of  the  year  1851,  he  was  called  to  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Jersey  City ;  and  on  the  eleventh  day  of 
February  he  was  installed  as  pastor  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  York. 
That  pastorate  continued  for  thirty-six  years,  during  which  much  of 
his  time  was  given  to  interests  not  directly  those  of  his  own  congrega- 
tion. He  was  faithful  as  a  presbyter  in  Presbytery.  From  the  year 
185 1  he  was  a  Trustee  of  Princeton  College.  From  the  year  1856  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  Of  his  services 
upon  that  Board,  his  fellow  members  testify, "  He  was  faithful  in  his 
stewardship,  enduring  to  the  end  in  every  good  word  and  work.  His 
intercourse  with  his  associate  members  was  marked  \)y  genial  kindness 
and  courtesy  which  never  failed.  No  word  or  act  of  his  has  caused  a 
wound  to  any.  He  was  eminently  a  spiritual  man,  strong  in  the  faith 
and  most  positive  in  his  convictions.  During  all  these  years,  how- 
ever, his  chief  work  was  that  of  a  Shepherd  of  Christ  keeping  watch 
over  his  own  flock. 

Statistics  have  a  certain  value,  and  it  may  be  well  to  repeat  the  few 
which  occur  in  the  last  sermon  of  his  ministry.  During  his  pastorate 
in  Jersey  City  almost  seven  hundred  names  were  entererd  on  the 
Communion  Register  ;  on  an  average  nearly  twenty,  year  by  year,  of 
which  between  one-third  and  one-half  were  added  upon  confession 
of  faith.  He  spoke  "in  the  name  of  the  Lord  very  much  more  than 
five  thousand  times,  not  including  more  than  one  thousand  times  at 
prayer  meetings  or  other  gatherings,  or  the  hundreds  of  funeral  ad- 
dresses." He  baptized  "478  persons,  of  whom  just  fifty  were  adults  ; 
arid  solemnized  352  marriages,  in  some  cases  those  of  the  parents  and 
then  those  of  the  children  after  them."  He  attended  731  funerals; 
having,  during  the  whole  time  of  his  ministry,  committed  to 'the  grave 
considerably  more  than  one  thousand  persons.  "  Do  you  wonder," 
he  asked,  "  that  to  an  old  minister  life  seems  very  short  ? "  Such  are 
the  statistics.  But  statistics  such  as  these  no  more  tell  the  story  of 
his  pastorate  than  the  number  of  those  fallen  on  the  battle-field  tells 
the  story  of  the  battle.  To  know  his  pastorate  one  must  have  known 
him  ;  and  there  was  much  of  which  even  those  who  knew  him  best 
knew  but  little  ;  for  it  was  his  wont  to  enter  into  his  inner  chamber 
and  shut  the  door.  But  some  things  are  certain ;  because  he  himself 
declared  them,  out  of  a  pure  heart,  in  love  unfeigned,  and  before  the 
sight  of  God.  His  "  rejoicing  over  converts  brought  to  Christ,  and 
souls  nourished  by  the  word  of  God."     His  thanks  for  all  their  graces. 


12 

knowing  no  greater  joy  than  to  see  his  children  walking  in  the  truth." 
His  "  fervent  and  believing  pleading  with  God  the  Father  and  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  the  abiding  peace  and  faith  and  love,  which 
are  from  God,  might  rest  in  their  souls,  and  bind  them  first  to  God 
and  his  Christ,  and  then  to  one  another."  His  "continual  prayer  for 
every  one,  that  the  Lord  would  make  him  perfect  and  complete  and 
preserve  him  unto  his  heavenly  glory."  The  joy  he  "had  in  every 
soul  that  was  earnest  in  the  service  of  the  Lord"  ;  the  "  bitterness 
of  heart"  he  knew  by  reason  of  the  "  coldness  or  decline  of  any  who 
had  professed  the  name  of  Christ  ",  and  because  of  those  who  were 
"insensible  to  all  appeals  and  never  openly  acknowledged  Christ." 
The  "exhortations,  the  warnings;  the  prayers,  the  wrestlings,  and  the 
tears",  regarding  which  he  prayed  "May  His  mercy  be  meted  out  to 
us,  both  pastor  and  people,  in  that  day."  Just  fifty  years  before, 
when  still  a  student  in  the  Seminary,  he  had  stood  up  in  a  little  school- 
house  near  Princeton  to  preach  his  first  sermon.  How  well  he 
remembered  that  scene.  "  The  long  walk  in  the  sabbath  evening,  the 
dim  tallow-candles  on  the  school  desk  used  for  a  pulpit,  the  assembled 
audience  sitting  in  the  shadow,  and  the  young  preacher,  timid  and 
anxious,  as  he  rose  to  publish  his  first  message  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.'' 
That  was  just  fifty  years  before  to  the  very  day.  For  fifty  years  he  had 
endured  hardness  as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ. 

In  the  closing  sermon,  after  speaking  of  the  hesitancy  with  which 
he  undertook  his  new  charge.  Father  said,  "and  for  a  few  years 
these  doubts  continued  for  reasons  upon  which  I  need  not  now 
dwell."  This,  however,  may  be  added.  There  was  a  diff"erence 
between  father  and  some  of  the  members  of  his  congregation  ;  and 
while  the  congregation,  as  a  congregation,  with  great  cordiality  and 
unanimity  maintained  his  cause,  his  position  still  remained  a  trying 
one.  An  old  friend,  therefore,  counselled  him,  having  now  carried 
the  matter  to  a  successful  issue,  to  seek  another  field  of  labor.  But 
his  people  had  had  the  courage  to  do  what  he  regarded  right ;  and  no 
consideration  of  his  own  ease  could  tempt  him  to  leave  them,  unless 
patient  waitmg  should  make  the  wisdom  of  such  a  step  manifest. 
That  is  the  truth  concealed  beneath  the  words,  "  But  upon  reflection 
I  decided  to  remain  at  all  events  for  five  years."  When  the  five  years 
were  gone  the  heavens  above  were  blue ;  and  as  time  passed,  most  if 
not  all  of  those  who  had  diff"ered  with  him  were  bound  to  him  by  a 
cord  of  aff"ection  never  to  be  broken. 


13 

No  just  account  of  father's  pastorate  in  Jersey  City  will  fail  to  note 
one  thing.  When  it  began  the  neighborhood  in  which  the  church 
stood  was  rapidly  filling  up  with  a  church-going  population.  For 
a  number  of  years  therefore  the  congregation  was  large  and  growing 
larger.  There  was  a  time  when  some  of  its  members  surrendered 
their  pews  on  the  ground-floor  and  took  others  in  the  galleries  to 
make  room  for  new-comers.  Then  came  the  change.  With  that 
change  all  are  now  familiar  ;  it  went  on  for  years  known  of  all  men. 
But  there  is  one  thing  which  may  not  be  familiar  to  all,  and  that  is 
not  to  be  forgotten.  Father  noted  the  moment  that  the  tide  began 
to  ebb.  There  was  a  fact  of  great  significance  to  the  life  of  the 
church,  unperceived  by  most,  which  he  perceived  clearly.  While  for 
years  many  came,  there  never  was  a  time  when  many  also  did  not  go. 
Whenever  four  names  were  entered  on  the  Communion  Register 
three  names  were  taken  off.  Then  came  a  time  when  the  entries 
and  erasures  stood  four  and  four.  When  the  account  stood  four  and 
five,  the  secret  was  out.  But  the  secret  was  no  secret  to  him  who 
kept  the  Register.  I  think  it  was  very  shortly  after  the  close  of  the 
War  that  the  future  of  the  church  became  manifest  to  father's  mind. 
The  question  was  not  one  of  another  pastor.  Had  he  thought  so, 
there  would  have  been  another  pastor.  There  lay  before  the  church 
a  struggle  like  the  straggle  with  a  force  of  nature.  A  man  in  its 
pastorate  was  a  man  with  his  hand  upon  a  crevice  in  a  dike.  Father 
was  then  about  fifty-five  years  of  age.  There  were  those  who  thought 
he  would  be  wise  to  take  another  charge.  But  he  took  no  other 
charge.      He  stood  at  his  post  and  fought  a  good  fight. 

As  the  years  went  by  it  must  have  been  harder  and  harder  not  to 
grow  weary  in  well  doing.  When  at  last  he  was  nearing  the  close  he 
wrote,  "  The  time  to  which  I  have  been  looking  forward  so  long  has 
at  length  come.  My  ministry  here  is  about  at  an  end.  It  has  been 
dreadfully  uphill  work  ;  it  has  been  sailing  against  wind  and  tide." 
That,  however,  was  not  his  common  tone.  I  have  been  reading  over 
many  of  his  letters,  but  I  remember  no  other  so  strong  expression  of 
discouragement.  He  always  wrote  cheerfully.  If  there  was  some- 
thing disheartening  that  he  could  not  avoid  telling,  he  always  had 
something  encouraging  to  match  it.  Dear  heart!  I  sometimes  won- 
dered whether  he  thought  that  I  was  blind.  But  if  he  did  not  write 
of  his  discouragements,  of  what  else  did  he  write  .'  He  wrote  of  the 
fidelity  of  his  people.     His  account  of  the  annual  meeting  of  thecongre- 


14 

gation  never  came  without  the  tribute  of  his  praise.  If  the  church 
were  his,  it  was  theirs  also  ;  if  he  was  fighting  a  good  fight,  so  likewise 
were  they.  And  he  wrote  of  their  love.  His  letters,  especially  those 
written  towards  the  close  of  his  pastorate,  are  redolent  of  this  theme. 
"  It  is  a  trial  to  end  a  long  pastorate.  But  we  are  seventy-three  years 
old  ;  and  God  has  been  very  gracious  in  giving  us  the  hearty  affection 
of  the  people."  The  courtesy  and  delicacy  with  which  everything 
was  concluded  were  very  grateful  to  him  ;  and  of  this  he  wrote  most 
carefully.  "  The  particular  point  in  which  they  were  all  interested 
was  that  I  should  be  satisfied."  "All  were  very  sad  and  very  tender 
in  the  whole  matter,  and  expression  was  given  to  their  feelings  in  the 
most  loving  words."  And  that  love  of  his  people  toward  him  made 
it  impossible  that  he  should  decline  to  receive  a  last  and  just  benefit 
at  their  hands.  Every  temporal  need  for  the  rest  of  his  pilgrimage 
had  been  already  made  secure  by  the  afi'ection  of  a  son  ;  but  when 
his  people  told  him  of  their  desire  that  he  should  receive  during  life 
the  interest  accruing  from  the  sale  of  the  church  property,  he  accepted 
their  offer  in  conscience  and  in  love.  "  All  was  done  in  a  very  kind 
and  loving  manner.  And  I  could  not  but  accept  the  offer,  both  as 
conscientiously  offered  by  them  as  a  Christian  Church  in  order  to 
discharge  as  far  as  they  were  able  what  they  felt  to  be  due  to  an  old 
Christian  pastor  (a  right  feeling  which  I  would  not  hinder  from  ex- 
pression) ;  and  also  for  the  reason  that  it  was  a  kind  provision  from 
the  Master,  graciously  ofi'ered  to  me  as  His  servant,  which  I  ought 
therefore  to  accept."  It  was  a  loving  pastor's  acceptance  of  a  loving 
return  from  a  loving  people.     It  was  deep  answering  unto  deep. 

At  the  close  of  his  last  sermon,  preached  in  the  old  church  on  the 
29th  day  of  April  1888,  father  announced  the  dissolution  of  the 
pastoral  relation  between  himself  and  the  congregation.  By  the 
appointment  of  Presbytery,  however,  he  still  remained  Moderator 
of  the  Session.  In  due  time  the  Session  and  Trustees  began  to  take 
thought  touching  the  future  of  the  organization  and  the  final  dispo- 
sition of  the  property.  Among  other  propositions  made  was  that  of 
uniting  the  congregation  with  the  one  worshipping  in  Emory  Street. 
This  proposition  received  father's  cordial  approval.  In  the  course  of 
time  the  union  was  accomplished,  the  united  congregation  taking  the 
name  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Jersey  City,  It  was  promised 
that  father  should  receive  from  the  united  congregation,  in  lieu  of  the 
interest  accruing  from  the  sale  of  the  old  church,  one  thousand  dollars 


15 

a  year  as  long  as  he  lived.  A  sacred  promise  sacredly  performed. 
Also  father  was  chosen  pastor  emeritus  ;  the  pastor  being  the  Rev. 
Charles  Herr.  From  one  who  would  have  been  just  to  mark  any  real 
shortcoming,  there  is  the  witness,  "  Father's  relations  with  Mr.  Herr 
have  been  most  cordial  ;  he  could  not  have  acted  more  tenderly  if  he 
had  been  father's  own  son."  A  single  extract  more  from  father's 
letters  completes  the  story  of  his  pastorate.  "  On  Tuesday  morning 
early  (March  i8,  1890)  Mr.  McGee,  now  the  only  elder,  and  myself 
met  as  a  Session  and  finished  up  all  the  remaining  church  business ; 
and  after  winding  all  up,  we  closed  with  prayer  and  thanksgiving  the 
long  continued  series  of  Session  meetings  which  the  old  church  has 
seen.  It  really  seemed  as  if  the  change  was  more  felt  at  that  moment 
than  ever  before.  And  now  as  I  look  back,  from  the  time  when  it 
was  proposed  to  close  the  church  up  to  the  present  moment,  and  see 
how  God  has  led  us  along  in  all  this  matter,  and  how  prosperously  it 
has  been  carried  forward  to  this  consummation,  I  think  I  can  realize 
more  than  ever  how  gracious  and  kind  He  has  been  in  it  all ;  and 
I  am  more  than  satisfied  (trying  as  it  has  been  at  times)  that  all  has 
been  for  the  best.     Praise  be  to  His  name  !  " 

Father  was  a  good  Greek  scholar  and  a  very  good  Hebrew  scholar. 
Latin  he  read  with  ease.  When  he  was  a  boy  the  choice  was  between 
German  and  Spanish.  To  his  lasting  regret  he  chose  Spanish,  which 
he  spoke.  German  he  did  not  seriously  attempt  until  middle  life, 
when  he  learned  to  read  it.  He  could  read  French  and  Italian  and 
had  sufficient  knowledge  of  Dutch  to  enable  him  to  travel  in  Holland 
without  an  interpreter.  Of  the  poets,  Shakespeare  was  first  and  with- 
out a  near  second  ;  Wordsworth  and  Tennyson  had  I  think  no 
message  for  him.  Among  novelists,  Dickens  bore  the  palm  with 
Thackeray  next  but  a  long  way  behind.  He  admired  Addison  and 
frequently  spoke  of  his  clearness  and  elegance,  preferring  him  to  Dr. 
Johnson  ;  though  the  patient  industry  and  vigorous  style  of  the  latter 
attracted  him  strongly.  While  the  life  and  works  of  Coleridge  brought 
something  to  him  he  thought  him  misty  and  unsound.  Though  he 
was  very  familiar  with  Burns  he  rarely  spoke  of  him.  Macaulay's 
rhetoric  always  roused  him  ;  at  the  same  time  he  frequently  expressed 
a  regret  that  Macaulay  was  apt  to  shade  a  truth  to  make  a  fine  sen- 
tence. Goethe,  Dante  and  Tasso  he  read  again  and  again  ;  and  he 
was  the  only  man  I  ever  knew  to  be  very  fond  of  Tasso.  He  enjoyed 
keenly  Chaucer's  Tales    and  Spencer's  Fairy  Queen, — the  latter  he 


16 

frequently  read  aloud  accompanying  the  reading  with  sweet  com- 
ments. Carlyle  he  read  with  delight;  Leighton  on  Peter  was  an  old 
friend  ;  Jay  was  always  on  his  table.  Many  years  ago  I  asked  him 
as  to  his  favorite  hymn.  He  hesitated  for  a  moment  and  then 
answered,  "Jesus,  and  shall  it  ever  be."  But  in  later  years  I  think 
he  would  have  said,  "  Fairest  Lord  Jesus."  Of  works  on  systematic 
theology  I  doubt  whether  any  other  ever  held  the  same  rank  with 
him  as  that  of  Turretin.  How  well  I  remember  seeing  him  reading 
it  when  I  was  a  boy.  As  the  edition  which  he  had  was  in  four  large 
Latin  volumes,  and  as  at  the  time  I  was  much  engaged  in  the  acqui- 
sition of  that  tongue,  this  struck  me  as  one  of  the  eccentricities  of  the 
ministerial  mind  ;  but  now  as  I  recall  the  scene  and  his  beaming  eyes 
when  I  told  him  what  I  thought,  I  feel  rather  as  I  do  when  I  look  at 
a  rare  and  polished  knot  in  a  panel  of  beautiful  old  oak.  Touching 
logic,  I  think  he  would  have  listened  with  a  half-consenting,  smile  to 
a  son's  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter,  that  "Logic  is  a  science 
divided  into  two  parts  ;  one  of  which  comprises  the  things  that  every- 
body knows  to  begin  with  ;  and  the  other,  the  things  that  nobody 
cares  to  know  anyhow."  But  the  smile  would  have  been  half-dis- 
approving too  ;  for  such  a  definition  might  wound  the  feelings  of 
some  one  who  thought  otherwise  ;  nor  was  he  ever  flippant.  In 
metaphysics  also  he  took  but  little  interest.  No,  that  is  not  the  right 
way  to  put  it.  To  him,  the  invisible  things  were  clearly  seen,  Angels 
and  archangels,  the  spirits  of  men  and  the  Father  of  spirits,  were  the 
world  whose  fashion  fadelh  not  away.  They  were  the  things  most 
surely  believed  among  us.  But  the  study  to  which  he  gave  himself 
assiduously  during  all  his  life  was  that  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  and 
the  Old  Testament  he  studied  as  particularly  as  the  New.  Indeed 
he  seemed  at  times  to  bend  over  the  older  writings  with  a  peculiar 
reverence  ;  searching  what  time  or  what  manner  of  time  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  which  was  in  them  did  point  unto,  when  it  testified  beforehand 
the  sufferings  of  Christ,  and  the  glories  that  should  follow  them.  In 
his  study  he  made  use  of  the  best  helps  available ;  and  his  reading  of 
the  Word  was  ever  with  diligence,  preparation,  and  prayer.  He 
received  it  with  faith  and  love,  laid  it  up  in  his  heart,  and  practiced 
it  in  his  life.  "  May  our  Lord  with  his  Spirit  ever  be  with  you  still 
and  guide  you  into  the  green  pastures  and  by  the  still  waters  ",  was 
one  of  his  last  messages. 

The  theology  that  father  preached  was  the  theology  whose  founda- 


17 

tion  truth  finds  expression  in  the  text  occurring  oftenest  in  his  letters. 
The  Lord  reigneth.  The  theme  upon  which  he  dwelt  with  most 
insistence  is  easily  to  be  discovered  in  his  closing  sermon.  The 
mystery  of  God  is  Christ ;  in  him  God  reveals  himself  to  man  ;  in 
him  man  is  raised  to  the  throne  of  God.  Faith  is  faith  in  God  and 
in  his  Christ,  "I  am  sure  that  the  great  thing  is  to  bring  men  to 
faith  in  a  Person  and  love  towards  a  Person."  He  who  believes  in 
Christ  is  in  Christ.  Such  a  one  has  put  on  Christ  ;  and  when  God 
beholds  him  he  beholds  only  Christ.  Furthermore,  if  any  man  be 
in  Christ,  Christ  is  in  him  ;  Christ  reigns  in  him,  Christ  lives  in  him. 
Thus  his  preaching  was  a  preaching  of  life.  "A  life  not  of  this 
world,  but  separated  from  it,  in  spirit,  in  desires,  in  aims;  a  life  really 
unknown  by  the  men  of  this  world,  and  unrelished  by  them  just  so 
far  as  it  is  known  ;  a  life  whose  greatness  and  glory  and  holiness,  its 
now  unseen  and  unknown  and  inconceivable  grounds  of  existence, 
and  its  sublime  realities,  are  yet  to  be  revealed  ;  a  hidden  life — hidden 
with  Christ  in  God,  and  to  be  revealed  in  its  Glory  only  when  the 
Lord  comes."  A  life,  a  conquering  life,  a  life  triumphant  over  sin 
and  death.  That  was  his  message.  And  he  always  said,  If  any  man 
will,  let  him  take  of  the  water  of  life  freely.  "I  address  you  with 
tender  importunity.  Jesus  Christ  says  to  you,  as  to  all  :  The  way 
is  open  ;  so  fully,  widely  open  to  him  who  is  ready  to  enter,  that 
none  can  shut  it  against  him.  But  it  requires  decision  to  enter  it. 
Strait  is  the  gate  and  narrow  is  the  way  that  leadeth  unto  life.  He 
that  layeth  not  down  all  that  he  hath  and  taketh  not  up  his  cross  can 
not  be  my  disciple.  Once  more  you  have  life  and  death  set  before 
you.  Will  you  fail  after  all  of  the  grace  of  God."  But  no  account 
of  his  preaching  is  a  faithful  one  that  fails  to  mark  the  tender  love 
with  which  he  lingered  over  two  other  themes.  It  was  clear  to  him 
that  the  ancient  covenant  and  prophecies  vouchsafe  to  Israel  as  a 
nation  blessings  that  are  yet  to  be  fulfilled  ;  that  Israel  is  yet  to  be 
the  head  among  the  peoples.  For  the  hastening  of  that  day  he 
prayed.  Likewise  his  studies  of  the  Scriptures  made  him  confident 
that  before  the  end  of  all  things,  this  earth  shall  see  a  day  of  glory  to 
be  ushered  in  by  the  coming  of  Christ  with  all  his  saints.  For  that 
appearing  he  waited  in  earnest  expectation  ;  to  him  it  was  indeed  the 
blessed  hope;  in  life  and  death  alike  he  clasped  it  to  his  heart. 
"And  there  we  laid  the  sweet  one  down  to  wait  the  coming  of  the 
Lord  ;  and  in  my  heart,  again  and  again  and  again,  I  committed  her 


18 

dear  body  to  his  care,  to  bring  her  forth  in  glory  in  that  coming 
blessed  day."  So  he  wrote  of  mother.  No  wonder,  then,  that  he 
never  wearied  of  the  apostolic  supplication,  Amen  ;  come  Lord  Jesus. 

An  endearing  inspiration  of  father's  life  was  his  love  of  nature. 
He  ever  looked  through  Nature  up  to  Nature's  God.  He  could  not 
bear  to  bruise  a  flower.  I  rarely  saw  him  pluck  one.  He  never 
failed  to  find  a  use  and  beauty  and  providence  in  every  twig  and  tree. 
Strength  in  the  oak,  loveliness  in  the  rose,  faithful  providing  for  God's 
creatures  in  every  waiving  field  of  grain.  The  little  that  the  most 
skillful  gardener  or  hardest-working  farmer  does  and  the  much  that 
the  dear  God  does,  in  bringing  forth  the  flower  and  the  grain  ;  and 
the  watchful  love  of  Him  who  cares  for  the  sparrows, — was  constantly 
his  theme  with  those  who  were  with  him  during  his  vacations.  The 
pets  of  the  household,  the  birds  of  the  air,  the  useful  beasts  of  farm 
and  hillside,  the  faithful  horse  and  ox, — all  found  in  him  a  friend 
and  one  who  saw  something  in  them  that  is  lovable  and  filled  with 
good  example.  The  sweet  serenity  of  his  countenance  at  such  times 
filled  all  who  looked  upon  him  and  listened  to  him  with  quiet  joy 
and  peace.  How  many  times  in  childood,  and  in  maturer  years,  he 
has  taught  us  to  see  that  each  stone  and  plant  and  insect  and 
animal  and  human  being  has  a  mission  and  a  purpose.  In  every 
way,  on  every  side,  at  all  times,  he  saw  something  that  suggested  a 
loving  Father, — omnipotent,  omniscient,  omnipresent, — beckoning 
all  men  and  creatures  to  Him  with  infinite  tenderness. 

The  things  essential  in  his  character  were  love  and  justice.  He 
was  just  to  others  ;  both  to  their  virtues  and  to  their  faults.  When  a 
son,  with  boldness  of  speech,  condemned  a  notorious  criminal  in 
prison  for  his  crime,  he  said,  "  My  dear  son,  you  can  never  be  certain 
that  a  man  is  as  bad  as  he  seems.  You  can  never  be  sure  how  he 
has  been  brought  up,  or  what  his  temptations  have  been."  What  is 
more  difficult ; — he  was  just  to  himself.  He  acknowledged  his 
"  weakness  of  endeavor,  his  failures,  his  probable  mistakes,  his  misuse 
or  feeble  use  of  opportunities,  his  poor  attainments,  and  the  poverty 
of  the  apparent  fruits  of  his  labors  compared  with  what  he  felt  they 
might  have  been."  But  if  he  acknowledged  his  imperfections,  he  also 
maintained  his  cause.  He  declared  his  "sincerity  and  integrity"; 
and  told  his  people  that  he  had  "sought  to  know  and  do  God's  will  " 
among  them.  And  he  meant  the  one  just  as  truly  as  he  meant  the 
other.     No  one  ever  had  a  keener  consciousness  of  the  rectitude  of 


19 

his  purpose.  And  he  was  loving.  He  was  kind  to  the  poor  and  the 
distressed.  With  a  peculiar  grace  for  wandering  Jews  and  Scotch- 
men. For  the  Jews  were  God's  ancient  people  ;  and  was  not  his 
father  a  Scotchman  ?  His  love  too  was  a  charity  that  went  beyond  the 
pale  of  his  own  Church  to  embrace  the  whole  Church  of  Christ.  He 
"  could  not  help  looking  out  with  a  smile  of  joyful  recognition  to  the 
great  company  where  are  seen  all  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in 
sincerity ;  and  who,  in  their  different  assemblies  and  lands  and 
nations,  are  walking  together,  as  one  people  separated  from  the  world, 
toward  the  same  heavenly  rest,  toward  the  bridal  day  of  the  Lord 
Christ."  So  it  was  not  a  strange  thing  that  he  and  a  godly  Roman 
Catholic  priest  who  lived  for  many  years  in  this  city  were  accustomed 
to  pray  for  each  other  That  he  loved  his  own  church  and  his  own 
people,  no  one  can  doubt.  And  beloved  us.  For  years  he  has  been 
to  me  the  dewdrop  in  which  I  have  seen  reflected  the  face  of  the 
Father  of  an  infinite  majesty.  And  we  loved  him.  He  had  no  child 
to  whom  it  was  not  a  delight  to  render  him  any  little  service.  But  it 
as  almost  always  he  who  did  the  service.  He  took  an  interest  in 
all  our  doings  ;  he  rejoiced  in  our  joys,  and  was  stirred  when  we 
were  in  trouble  ;  even  down  to  old  age  he  shared  our  griefs  and 
carried  our  burdens. 

My  brother  wrote  me  "  Father  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  typical 
example  of  the  truth,  'Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart;  for  they  shall 
see  God.'  He  seemed  to  be  constantly  seeing  God  and  knowing 
more  and  more  of  him  day  by  day.  One  characteristic  of  him  that 
you  will  remember  was  that  he  always  looked  upon  God  as  his  friend. 
Many  a  time,  as  I  have  been  going  along  the  street  and  heard  an 
oath,  I  have  seen  his  face  flush  up  ;  and  any  irreverent  use  of  the 
name  of  Christ  made  him  actually  shudder.  I  never  met  any  one 
who  seemed,  if  I  may  use  so  curious  a  phrase,  to  be  so  intimate  with 
God.  And  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  he  was  so  from  the 
time  he  was  born  ;  though  of  course  daily  growing  more  so."  This 
is  true.  But  if  one  of  us  had  told  him  so  I  think  I  know  what  would 
have  happened.  There  would  have  been  silence.  For  a  moment 
the  color  would  have  come  and  gone  in  his  face.  Then  he  would 
have  said,  "  We  love  Him  because  He  first  loved  us.''  But  he  would 
have  said  it  very  quietly.  As  quietly  as,  when  Death  laid  his  hand 
upon  him,  he  looked  up  and  said,  "  The  golden  bowl  is  broken." 

Father  and  mother  were  married  on  the  fifth  day  of  May,  1841  ; 


20 

and  mother  died  on  the  fourth  day  of  May,  1891.  The  next  day 
would  have  been  their  golden  wedding-day.  They  were  as  different 
as  blue  eyes  and  hazel.  In  his  veins  ran  the  blood  of  his  old  Tory 
grandfather ;  she  was  a  pure  Whig.  He  was  Old  School  ;  she  was 
New.  He  was  grave,  though  less  grave  as  he  grew  older  ;  her  gay 
sayings  were  his  constant  delight.  He  said  "  I  know  him  whom  I 
have  believed  "  ;  at  times  she  could  only  say  "  Lord,  I  believe,  help 
thou  mine  unbelief."  But  the  candle  of  their  love  burned  v/ith  a 
flame  that  never  flickered.  "Last  Thursday  was  the  fifth  of  May, 
our  wedding-day.  Only  think  of  our  having  been  married  for  forty 
years.  One  thing  I  can  say  with  truth.  That  I  have  had  the  very 
dearest  and  best  husband  that  a  woman  ever  had.  Many  things  that 
I  have  looked  upon  as  choice  blessings  have  disappointed  me.  He 
never  has.  I  have  never  for  one  moment  seen  a  fault  in  him  ;  with 
all  my  faults  he  has  loved  me  and  encouraged  me  in  every  effort  to 
do  right ;  and  he  has  always  infinitely  more  than  appreciated  anything 
that  I  have  ever  tried  to  do  for  him."  And  he  writes  "I  have  just 
been  out  and  got  a  bunch  of  roses  to  present  to  dear  mamma.  We 
.have  been  married  for  forty-seven  years."  The  last  years  of  her  life 
were  years  of  languor  and  a  longing  to  be  at  rest.  But  love  never 
failed.     When  she  was  taken  "  the  light  in  the  house  went  out." 

I  had  hoped  to  see  his  face  once  more  in  this  life  ;  but  the  time 
came  when  I  began  to  fear  that  it  could  not  be.  That  was  after 
mother  died.  There  was  a  something  in  his  letters  that  said  so. 
Other  eyes  than  mine  saw  the  sign.  We  began  to  say  to  one  another, 
Knowest  thou  not  that  the  Lord  will  take  away  thy  master  from  thy 
head  to-day?  and  to  answer,  Yea,  I  know  it,  hold  ye  your  peace. 
Never  slothful  in  business,  there  seemed  to  be  an  increasing  purpose 
to  redeem  the  time  ;  ever  mindful  of  everything  and  every  one,  there 
was  a  new  carefulness  that  nothing  and  no  one  be  forgotten.  It  was 
clear  too  that  he  himself  was  waiting  for  the  porter  to  open  the  gate. 
"One  generation  goeth  and  another  cometh."  " So  we  drop  away 
one  after  another."  "So  the  Lord  is  gathering  us  one  by  one." 
"May  he  gather  us  all  together  at  last  into  our  blessed,  peaceful,  holy 
home,  in  his  Kingdom."  Faint  sounds.  But  like  the  tinkling  of  the 
golden  bells  on  the  robe  of  the  high  priest  drawing  nigh  to  enter  into 
that  within  the  veil. 

I  had  hoped  to  see  his  face  one  more.  I  had  even  thought  to 
bring  into  his  presence  my  two  boys,  whom  God  hath  given  me  in  a 


21 

strange  land  ;  to  have  him  put  his  hands  upon  their  heads  and  to 
hear  him  say,  "The  God  before  whom  my  fathers  did  walk,  the  God 
which  hath  fed  me  all  my  life  long  unto  this  day,  bless  the  lads." 
But  we  are  not  comfortless.  They  are  beloved  for  the  father's  sake. 
And  though  we  might  not  see  his  face  nor  hear  his  voice  again,  we 
are  not  without  our  benediction.  "The  best  of  blessings  be  on  you 
all.  A  heart  full  of  love  to  you  all."  Those  are  the  very  last  words 
he  ever  wrote  to  me. 


SERMON 

PREACHED  IN  THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  JERSEY 

CITY,  ON  SUNDAY   EVENING,  NOV.  22,  1891, 

BY  THE   PASTOR,  THE 

REV.    CHARLES    HERR. 


Before  his  transJalion  he  had  this  lestimony,  that  he  pleased  God. — 
Heb.  xi.  5. 

A  long  drive  from  Geneva  of  flat,  tame  miles  ends  before  the  tow- 
ering majesty  of  Mont  Blanc.  It  is  somewhat  of  a  dull  road  through 
the  genealogical  records  of  Genesis,  but  when  you  come  to  Enoch 
the  road  sweeps  up  into  the  hills.  It  is  a  weary  stretch  of  nobodyism, 
but  at  last  you  meet  a  man,  a  monarch,  Enoch,  of  whom  it  is  on 
record  that  he  walked  with  God,  and  for  a  reward  God  took  him — 
took  him  into  heaven  without  the  dark  process  of  death.  Magnifi- 
cent man  !      Magnificent  finish  ! 

It  is  proper  and  necessary  for  us  to  talk  together  to-night  a  little, 
though  very  inadequately  indeed,  of  Dr.  Imbrie  whom  we  have  lost. 
In  truth  we  cannot  keep  our  minds  away  from  him.  We  talk  of  him, 
because  the  glory  and  the  sadness  absorb  all  our  thoughts.  And  we 
do  not  anticipate  anything  which  will  be  said  at  the  funeral  ceremonies 
to-morrow,  because  our  feelings  are  such  as  no  one  else,  having 
other  relations  with  Dr.  Imbrie,  can  utter. 

In  thinking  of  some  starting-place  for  our  thoughts,  it  seemed  to 
me  that  there  was  hardly  a  more  adequately  suggestive  personage 
than  this  Enoch,  seventh  from  Adam,  who  so  early  in  biblical  history 
reached  a  point  of  renown  in  godliness.  As  we  look  at  the  details 
of  his  sparse  record,  we  shall  find  that  they  admirably  prompt  the 
recollection  of  the  dominant  characteristics  of  our  Pastor  Emeritus. 

I.  Enoch  pleased  God  by  seeking  His  heavenly  companionship, 
by  finding  his  happiness  in  God's  communion.  The  Genesis  record 
reports  him  as  one  who  walked  with  God,  which  signifies  a  very 
intimate,  reverent  and  confidential  intercourse. 

And  when  we  remember  the  times  in  which  Enoch  lived,  that 
seems  a  wonderful  thing  indeed.  He  lived  in  the  world  that  Cain 
had  made,  the  world  that  was  the  offspring  of  selfishness  and  murder. 
The  religion  which  controlled  men's  actions  was  one  which  disowned 
the  claims  of  God  in  righteousness.  It  confessed  no  sin  and  guilt. 
It  refused  to  worship.  It  laughed  at  the  words  of  the  Almighty.  It 
was  an  age  when  the  evil  thoughts  of  men's  hearts  were  far  developed 


26 

toward  that  height  of  wickedness  which  brought  on  the  o'ersweeping 
flood  in  the  days  of  Noah,  Enoch's  greatgrandson.  A  constituent 
part  of  the  civihzation  of  that  day  was  a  city,  the  stronghold  in  un- 
godly times  of  luxury  and  materialism.  There  were  manufactures, 
the  art  of  man  was  cultivated  to  the  production  of  every  possible 
comfort,  ingenuity  was  taxed  in  ever-new  devices  to  create  what  might 
make  the  world,  out  of  which  God  had  been  rejected,  bearable  to 
man.  It  is  truly  wonderful  that  at  such  an  early  time  and  in  such 
hard  and  uncongenial  circumstances,  Enoch  walked  with  God. 
Original,  peculiar,  brave  to  oppose  the  religious  negations  of  his  fel- 
low-men, and  turning  his  back  with  firm  self-denial  upon  their  un- 
godly lusts  and  luxuries,  he  walked  with  God.  He  is  the  one  point 
of  light  in  a  black  expanse. 

I  am  sure  we  will  all  agree  that  it  was  eminently  true  of  Dr.  Imbrie 
that  he  walked  with  God,  His  conversation  was  habitually  and  deeply 
with  our  heavenly  Father, 

He  carried  the  proof  of  it  upon  his  face  and  in  his  utterance.  He 
did  not  try  to  prove  it.  He  did  not  need  to  tell  any  one  that  he  was 
a  man  of  God.  It  proved  itself.  He  had  the  Christ-spirit,  the  Christ- 
light,  the  Christ-speech.  It  was  not  peculiar  that  Moses'  face  should 
shine  with  the  reflection  of  Divine  glory  when  he  came  down  from 
the  communion  of  the  mount.  Every  man  of  God  will  carry  the 
marks  of  the  ethereal  converse  upon  his  face.  No  servant  of  the 
Most  High  ever  had  those  marks  more  distinctly,  more  beautifully, 
imprinted  upon  his  countenance  than  Dr.  Imbrie.  I  suppose  that 
he  must  always  have  been  a  very  handsome  man,  of  open  face  and 
clear  fine  features.  But  we  know  him  best  for  something  diff'erent 
from  that  and  deeper  than  that.  He  had  that  which  is  not  natural 
beauty,  and  which  can  make  even  plainness  beautiful, —  the  outward 
signals  of  an  inner  life  lived  in  the  presence  of  God,  lived  under  His 
smile,  lived  under  the  illumination  of  His  grace. 

And  this  was  evident  in  all  his  action.  The  holiest  and  loveliest 
graces  were  the  easy  and  natural  features  of  his  daily  walk.  There 
were  no  second-thoughts  about  him  ;  he  did  not  need  any.  The 
first  thought  was  always  the  Christ-thought,  the  heavenly  thought. 
His  talk  never  had  need  to  be  revised  for  any  reason  of  spiritual  in- 
adequacy or  moral  lack.  It  was  always  in  angelic  vein.  It  was 
always  the  talk  of  a  man  who  kept  continuous  company  with  our 
blessed  Lord,  and  whose  lips  never  for  an  instant  dropped  the  con- 
tinuity of  their  holy  habit. 


27 

Perhaps  no  mark  of  his  walk  with  God  was  more  impressive  to  us 
than  his  prayers  at  our  midweek  gathering.  They  were  always  so 
prompt,  so  helpful,  so  heavenly.  They  bore  us  all  up  so  confidently, 
so  joyfully  to  God.  They  so  uttered  our  unutterable  thoughts.  They 
exhibited  and  interpreted  to  us  the  strange  and  fugitive  sensations  of 
our  hearts  with  such  ease  of  saintly  power.  His  prayers  were  a  sub- 
lime evidence  of  his  reverent,  yet  childlike  and  confident  familiarity 
with  God.  Their  flow,  their  unlabored  elevation,  their  sweet  and  even 
naturalness,  their  wondrous  spirituality,  and  that  amazing  quality  by 
which  the  delicatest  thoughts  were  fixed  and  the  most  vanishing  feel- 
ings caught  and  uttered  in  accumulating  flow  and  splendor  ;  these 
things  showed  us,  as  few  things  could,  that  he  lived  in  an  attitude  of 
prayer,  that  his  life  was  spent  in  God's  presence. 

2.  Enoch  pleased  God  by  the  witness  which  he  faithfully  bore  for 
Him,  for  the  integrity  of  his  truth  against  th^  falsehoods  of  un- 
righteous men.  Though  we  have  no  record  of  this  in  Genesis,  we 
can  easily  understand  that  his  life  would  necessarily  be  of  this  sort. 
Living  a  rare  saint  of  God  in  the  midst  of  a  wicked  world,  his  very 
life  would  be  a  testimony.  He  must  have  been  a  martyr  in  every 
sense,  a  witness  to  the  truth  and  a  sufferer  for  it.  We  cannot  believe 
that  a  character  of  his  exceptional  sort  could  have  escaped  the  con- 
tumely and  enmity  of  men,  who  did  not  even  need  words  to  con- 
demn them  while  his  life  stood  forth  in  silent  but  complete  accusation. 
But  the  apostle  Jude  has  preserved  something  for  us  out  of  the  dying 
testimonies  of  tradition,  which  shows  that  Enoch's  life  was  not 
without  its  vigorous  spoken  protest  against  the  wickedness  of  the 
world.  "  Enoch,  the  seventh  from  Adam,  prophesied,  saying.  Behold 
the  Lord  cometh  among  His  holy  myriads  to  execute  judgment  upon 
all,  and  to  convict  all  the  impious  concerning  all  their  works  of  im- 
piety which  they  impiously  did,  and  concerning  all  the  hard  things 
which  impious  sinners  spoke  against  Him." 

Dr.  Imbrie  was  every  way  a  witness  for  God,  by  life,  by  act,  by 
word.  He  was  profoundly  learned  in  the  Scriptures.  I  think  he 
could  be  called  a  scientific  theologian,  a  man  who  knew  the  testi- 
monies of  the  word  of  God  and  was  able  to  bring  them  together  into 
a  consistent  and  harmonious  scheme.  There  are  not  many  men  in 
our  country  who  can  so  amply  justify  that  designation. 

In  all  the  large  and  burning  questions  that  came  before  the 
Presbyterian    Church    he    was    a   ready,    faithful,    courageous    and 


28 

splendidly  intelligent  witness  for  the  truth  of  God,  as  he  understood 
it.  And  he  understood  it  in  the  old  way,  the  way  made  glorious  by 
the  singing  feet  of  the  generations  which  echo  to  us  from  the  past. 
The  struggle  connected  with  the  proposed  revision  of  the  Confession 
of  Faith  saddened  his  heart  deeply,  and  I  somehow  feel  that  he 
would  not  have  found  out  how  to  adjust  himself  with  repose  of  heart 
in  the  new  conditions  which  now  seem  likely  to  come  to  pass.  He 
was  a  redoubtable  antagonist.  Those  who  came  forward  from  time 
to  time  with  raw  ideas  and  radical  departures  and  sudden  enthusiasms 
of  revolution  met  in  him  an  unconquerable  foeman  and  found  their 
propositions  overwhelmed  with  the  condemning  testimony  of  scrip- 
ture. 

He  was  with  us  at  communion  seasons  (and  perhaps  there  we 
shall  miss  him  most),  and  talked  to  us  so  winningly  of  the  love  of 
Christ,  and  ministered  to  our  fainting  souls  the  comfortable  encour- 
agements of  Divine  grace.  He  was  with  us  at  our  prayer-meetings, 
and  spoke  upon  all  the  varied  subjects  which  come  before  us  in  the 
round  of  the  year.  His  address  was  the  glorious  feature  of  the 
occasion,  that  for  which  our  souls  waited  as  for  their  food.  He  was 
with  us  at  protracted  meetings,  when  the  duties  of  the  unworldly  life 
in  their  multitudinous  forms  of  expression, — the  obligation  and 
wisdom  of  early  profession,  the  sinfulness  of  sin,  the  misery  and 
despair  of  the  ungodly  life,  the  responsibility  and  privilege  of  re- 
sponding to  the  redeeming  love  of  God,  the  deceitful  persuasions  of 
Satan, — were  declared  by  him  with  exceptional  and  pressing  em- 
phasis, with  stirring  freshness  and  power.  His  facility  in  all  these 
things,  his  supreme  adequacy  for  every  occasion,  was  the  mark  of  a 
great  and  faithful  witness  for  God. 

3,  Enoch  pleased  God  by  his  faith.  This  is  asserted  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews  as  the  explanation  of  his  godly  walk.  "  By  faith 
Enoch  was  translated  that  he  should  not  see  death  ;  and  was  not 
found  because  he  had  translated  him  :  for  before  his  translation  lie 
had  this  testimony  that  he  pleased  God.  But  without  faith  it  is 
impossible  to  please  Him  ;  for  he  that  cometh  to  God  must  believe 
that  He  is  and  that  He  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek 
Him." 

Dr.  Imbrie  believed  that  God  is.  He  believed  it  with  all  his  soul. 
He  knew  it.  To  him  it  was  the  truest  of  truths.  It  was  more  real 
to  him  than  anything  else  in  the  wide  universe. 


29 

And  he  grasped  it  as  a  truth  that  has  meaning — a  truth  to  Hve  by. 
It  was  not  an  intellectual  tenet ;  it  was  a  life-faith.  He  accepted 
all  that  it  entailed.  It  involved  him  in  relations  of  love  and  duty 
which  he  entered  into  with  sincere  joy,  into  which  he  threw  himself 
with  abandonment  of  soul.  This  is  the  only  belief  in  God's  existence 
which  has  value  and  virtue.  With  so  many  men  that  truth,  though 
accepted,  lies  bedridden  in  the  dormitory  of  the  soul.  It  does  not 
go  like  an  arrow  into  their  consciences  ;  it  does  not  plough  up  their 
hearts  like  a  coulter  ;  it  does  not  shake  them  with  its  magnificent 
significance.  With  Dr.  Imbrie  it  had  all  these  pure  and  stirring 
effects.  He  saw  what  it  meant  that  God  is.  He  saw  that  it  required 
the  response  of  his  adoration,  his  obedience,  his  love.  And  he  gave 
them  with  gladness  and  without  reserve. 

He  digged  deep  into  this  truth  of  truths.  He  felt  it  so  fully  and 
so  intelligently  that  he  became  not  merely  a  servant  of  God,  but  a 
son.  The  utmost  that  a  large  number  of  Christians  realize  in  their 
religious  experience  is  just  that  they  are  pardoned  criminals.  But 
Dr.  Imbrie  entered  into  the  higher  and  sweeter  relationship.  He 
took  God's  word  for  his  adoption  into  the  heavenly  family,  he  under- 
stood the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  his  soul,  and  gave 
convincing  evidence  of  his  faith  by  acting  out  in  all  his  life  the  spirit 
of  a  son.  He  was  sweetly  constrained  to  all  happiness  of  temper 
and  all  gladness  of  service  by  the  fact  that  he  was  an  accepted  and 
beloved  child  of  the  Heavenly  Father.  In  his  heart  sprung  up  and 
lived  the  graces  that  belong  to  that  relationship — confidence,  serenity, 
love,  courage,  assurance. 

And  he  believed  that  God  rewards  those  who  diligendy  seek  Him. 
This  is  evident,  because  he  devoted  himself  to  the  attainment  of 
those  rewards,  and  those  only.  He  wanted  nothing  except  what 
came  from  the  hand  of  God.  That  which  supported  him  in  tlie 
patience  and  joyfulness  of  his  daily  walk,  that  which  inspired  his 
unrequired  yet  uninterrupted  faithfulness  in  the  service  of  this  Church, 
that  which  fortified  his  exhaustless  activity  in  every  direction  of  use- 
fulness, was  not  the  hope  of  reward  from  men,  not  even  their  good 
opinion  or  their  grateful  word.  Before  the  face  of  his  unseen  master 
he  lived  ;  for  Him  he  did  all  this  ;  to  Him  alone  he  stood  or  fell. 

The  wholesome  and  serene  sweetness  of  his  mind  amid  many 
cares  and  trials  shows  to  what  comforts  his  heart  was  turned.  No 
one  would  ever  have  judged  from  his  words  or  manner  that  he  had 


30 

quite  the  full  measure  of  human  griefs  and  burdens,  if  indeed  he  had 
not  a  little  more  than  the  common  share.  The  pain  and  loneliness 
that  came  to  him  from  his  wife's  death  only  six  months  ago  were 
absolutely  undiscoverable  to  any  except  those  to  whom  he  was  willing 
to  utter  them  in  words.  I  have  never  known  any  one  who  could 
more  thoroughly  make  his  own  the  declaration  of  the  Apostle  Paul : 
"  None  of  these  things  move  me,  neither  count  I  my  life  dear  unto 
myself,  so  that  I  might  finish  my  course  with  joy,  and  the  ministry, 
which  I  have  received  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  testify  the  gospel  of  the 
grace  of  God." 

And  how  has  Dr.  Imbrie  been  rewarded  ? 

I.  By  blessedness  here. 

He  pleased  God — and  behold  the  consequences  in  his  revered 
and  beautiful  life — "honor,  love,  obedience,  troops  of  friends."  A 
face  upon  which  were  written  the  peace  and  grace  of  the  Saviour. 
Lips  which  moved  with  delight  to  the  motive  of  this  ancient  German 
hymn,  which  was  his  favorite  : 

Fairest  Lord  Jesus  !     Ruler  of  all  nature  ! 

O  Thou,  of  God  and  Man  the  Son  ! 
.Thee  will  I  cherish,  Thee  will  I  honor, 
Thee,  my  soul's  glory,  joy  and  crown. 

Fair  are  the  meadows,  fairer  still  the  woodlands, 

Robed  in  the  blooming  garb  of  Spring  : 
Jesus  is  fairer,  Jesus  is  purer, 

Who  makes  the  woful  heart  to  sing. 

Fair  is  the  sunshine,  fairer  still  the  moonlight, 

And  all  the  twinkling  starry  host  ; 
Jesus  shines  brighter,  Jesus  shines  purer. 

Than  all  the  angels  heaven  can  boast. 

And  above  all,  he  had  the  sweet  heart,  glad  in  the  inward  testimony 
that  he  pleased  God  and  having  secret  springs  of  heavenly  joy  and 
satisfaction. 

Such  are  some  of  the  rewards  that  God  bestows  in  this  world.  Is 
anything  else  to  be  named  beside  them  ?  Is  anything  else  desirable 
without  them  ?  Can  riches  compare  with  the  rewards  of  God's 
favor  ?  Dr.  Imbrie  never  wanted  anything,  for  he  was  a  child  of  the 
Father  ;  but  he  never  was  rich.  He  did  not  need  to  be.  No  man 
needs  to  be.  Avaunt  the  despicable  materialism  which  weighs  men 
by  their  purses  and  strives  for   wealth   as  the  chief  good  !      The 


31 

greatest  thing  in  the  world  is  to  be  a  Christlike  man,  a  God-inhabited 
soul. 

2.  Then  God  rewarded  him  with  death.  Strange  reward,  say  you  ? 
Oh,  no  ! 

Enoch  was  not — for  God  took  him.  His  translation  was  super- 
natural. But  many  saints  die  not  much  dissimilarly.  Dr.  Imbrie's 
death  was  such.  It  was  just  as  little  to  him  as  translation  was  to 
Enoch.  His  death-bed  was  a  sublime  spectacle  of  faith.  I  suppose 
that  most  of  us,  if  we  should  undertake  to  imagine  an  ideal  picture 
of  a  believer's  closing  hours,  would  illustrate  them  with  expressions 
of  confidence  and  hope,  with  triumphant  utterances  of  fearlessness, 
with  emotional  testimonies  and  rapt  prayers  of  faith.  But  though 
he  had  clearness  and  vigor  of  faculty,  there  was  quiet  in  Dr.  Imbrie's 
room.  No  audible  prayer  ;  no  last  messages  of  warning  or  appeal  ; 
no  ejaculations  of  high  confidence  broke  the  tender  hush.  He  had 
left  nothing  undone  or  unsaid  in  his  holy  life  that  needed  fuller  wit- 
ness from  his  death-bed.  His  faith  did  not  need  to  encourage  itself 
with  outward  asseveration.  Perfect  self-control,  self-restraint,  rest, 
peace. 

3.  Last  of  all,  best  of  all,  fulfillment  of  all,  heaven  !  As  the  gray 
line  of  light  on  the  morning  sky  is  the  pledge  of  the  shining  sun  and 
the  risen  day,  as  the  blade  above  the  soil  is  the  earnest  of  the  waving 
corn-field  and  the  plentiful  granary,  so  are  these  first  rewards  of  service 
here  the  foretokens  and  prelibations  of  eternal  joys.  We  know  that 
our  beloved  Pastor  and  friend  inherits  the  precious  promises  of  God 
in  the  Scriptures. 

Thev  are  before  the  throne  of  God  a7id  serve  Him  day  attd  night  in 
His  temple.     And  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  shall 
feed  them  ayid  shall  lead  them  unto  living  fbuntains  of  waters.     And 
God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes. 


THE   FUNERAL  SERVICES. 


The  funeral  services  were  held  on    Monday  afternoon,   Nov.  23, 

1 89 1,  at  half-past  one  o'clock,  from  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 

of  Jersey  City.     The  services  were  opened   by   the   choir  with  the 

anthem, 

"Lead,  Kindly  Light,  etc." 

After  reading  the  following  sentences : — 

"  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life ;  he  that  believeth  in  me, 
though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live  : 

"And  whosoever  liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall  never  die." 

"But  I  would  not  have  you  to  be  ignorant,  brethren,  concerning 
them  which  are  asleep,  that  ye  sorrow  not,  even  as  others  which  have 
no  hope. 

"  For  if  we  believe  that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  even  so  them 
also  which  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him." 

The  pastor  of  the  Church  offered  the  following  prayer  : — 

"Almighty  God,  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we  give  Thee 
thanks  for  Thy  mercies  toward  us  and  to  all  men.  We  bless  Thee 
for  Thy  redeeming  love,  through  which  we  are  made  sure  that  this 
beloved  friend  and  father  has  ascended  up  on  high,  to  enter  with  the 
saints  and  the  spirits  made  perfect  into  an  Everlasting  Home.  We 
thank  Thee  for  that  word  of  Thine  by  which  we  know  that,  returning 
unto  Thee  from  this  twilight  vale,  he  has  been  borne  up  by  Thy  holy 
angels  in  the  way  of  righteousness  and  through  Thine  open  doors  o^ 
glory,  to  dwell  forever  in  the  light  which  no  eye  hath  seen,  and  midst 
the  song  which  no  ear  hath  heard. 

"Almighty  and  merciful  God,  who  art  the  fountain  of  all  compas- 
sion, and  hatest  nothing  that  Thou  hast  made,  we  pray  Thee  deliver 
our  souls  from  the  power  of  darkness,  put  behind  Thyself  the  remem- 
brance of  our  sins  forever,  and  give  us  the  sweet  assurance  that  we 
are  the  sons  of  God,  redeemed  not  with  corruptible  things,  as  silver 
and  gold,  but  with  the  precious  blood  of  Christ ;  and  destined  to  be 
kings  and  priests  unto  God  forever,  through  Him  that  loved  us. 

"  Holy  and  pitiful  Father,  be  among  us  as  we  gather  in  respectful 
and  affectionate  remembrance  of  the  dead,  and  do  Thou  make  our 


36 

hearts  sweet  in  communion  together  with  Thee  ;  help  us  to  magnify 
Thy  grace  ;  may  our  hearts  beat  with  eternal  life  ;  and  may  we  greet 
for  ourselves  on  the  horizon  the  sweet  promise  of  immortality  with 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen." 

The  scriptures  were  read  by  the  Rev.  Charles  D.  Shaw,  D.  D.,  of 
Paterson,  Moderator  of  the  Synod  of  New  Jersey,  after  which  the 
Rev.  P.  D.  Van  Cleef,  D.  D.,  representing  the  pastors  of  Jersey  City, 
spoke  as  follows  : — 

Dear  Friends, — "  Know  ye  not  that  there  is  a  prince  and  a  great 
man  fallen  this  day  in  Israel  ? "  A  long  and  useful  life  is  ended. 
A  ministerial  career  of  52  years  has  come  to  a  close  in  the  death  of 
Dr.  Imbrie.  This  long  and  faithful  ministry  is  a  source  of  great  joy 
to  many  here,  to  his  co-presbyters  who  were  fellow-workers  with  him 
in  his  denominational  connection,  in  missions,  in  education  and  in 
all  th«  departments  of  benevolence  in  which  he  was  so  deeply 
interested. 

But  there  is  a  pastorate  of  almost  40  years  in  one  church  in  this 
city  where  he  has  been  a  co-laborer  with  his  brethren  of  other 
denominations,  of  which  I  am  to  speak  a  few  words.  What  shall  I 
say?  Shall  they  be  words  of  condolence, — words  mingled  with 
tears, — words  of  sorrow .?  No,  it  seems  to  me  rather  that  they  should 
be  words  of  congratulation  ;  for  if  we  could  see  the  glory  revealed  to 
his  vision  now,  if  we  could  taste  the  cup  of  joy  which  has  been  pre- 
sented to  his  lips,  we  would  have  no  reason  for  sorrow.  He  has 
passed  seven  years  beyond  the  period  allotted  to  man  on  earth.  He 
has  fulfilled  his  ministry,  he  has  fought  a  good  fight,  he  has  finished 
his  course,  he  has  kept  the  faith ;  there  is  a  crown  of  righteousness 
laid  up  for  him.  The  earth  and  earthly  things  were  fading  away,  and 
Heaven  was  growing  brighter  and  nearer,  and  surely  we  may  congrat- 
ulate our  brother  upon  his  exchange  of  worlds  ;  and  who  can  be  so 
selfish  as  to  grieve  when  he  departs  from  us  to  be  "with  Christ,  which 
is  far  better  ?  " 

I  look  back  through  a  long  vista  of  years.  The  farther  verge  is 
somewhat  dimmed  by  reason  of  distance,  but  I  see  there  the  faces  of 
old  friends,  devoted  Christians,  earnest  workers  in  the  Lord's  vineyard, 
many  of  whose  names  I  could  recall,  some  venerable  elders  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  who  held  up  the  hands  and  cheered  the  heart 
of  their  pastor.     I  see  that  pastor  as  he  stood  in  the  spacious  pulpit 


37 

of  the  old  historic  church,  tall  and  straight,  with  dignified  bearing, 
solemn  and  impressive  mien,  yet  animated  in  his  delivery,  a  messenger 
of  God  with  a  message  fraught  with  tremendous  import,  a  message 
from  the  mouth  of  God  to  the  soul  of  man, — a  message  that  was 
never  diluted  with  human  speculations  or  fancies,  never  marred  by 
witticisms,  or  by  other  violations  of  pulpit  dignity  and  decorum  which 
so  often  blunt  the  edge  of  the  sword  of  the  Spirit.  His  ministry  was 
faithful.  He  won  and  kept  the  hearts  of  his  people.  He  commanded 
the  respect  of  the  community.  He  afifected  no  oddity,  he  practiced 
no  sensationalism  in  the  pulpit  to  attract  the  thoughtless  crowd. 
His  was  not  an  ephemeral  popularity,  lasting  only  until  the  appetite 
for  new  and  strange  things  is  satisfied.  The  sermons  of  Dr.  Imbrie 
never  lost  their  power,  because  their  power  consisted  in  the  truth  as 
revealed  in  the  word  of  God,  as  received  by  a  loving  heart,  as  grasped 
and  comprehended  by  a  well  disciplined  mind,  and  as  delivered  in 
all  the  sincerity  and  earnestness  of  one  who  could  say  with  the 
Apostle  Paul,  "Which  things  also  we  speak,  not  in  the  words  which 
man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth  ;  com- 
paring spiritual  things  with  spiritual." 

Consequently,  amid  all  the  changes  that  have  taken  place,  the 
death  and  removal  of  members  of  his  church  and  their  families,  the 
final  dissolution  of  his  once  large  and  flourishing  charge,  or  rather  its 
union  with  another,  a  union  in  which  pastor  and  people,  and  the 
history,  associations  and  work  of  both  were  blended,  the  people 
trained  under  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Imbrie  have  never  lost  their  venera- 
tion for  his  character,  their  admiration  of  his  clear  statements  of  truth, 
and  his  fearless  and  honest  exhibitions  of  the  requirements  of  the 
divine  law,  and  the  overflowing  tenderness  of  his  appeals  to  the  heart 
and  conscience,  as  he  pointed  to  the  "Lamb  of  God  who  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world." 

The  mental  vigor  of  Dr.  Imbrie  was  remarkably  preserved.  We 
who  have  been  associated  with  him  from  the  beginning  or  the  early 
part  of  his  ministry  in  this  City,  and  have  wrought  in  this  field  when 
we  were  all  in  the  morning  or  in  the  noontide  of  life,  cannot  realize 
that  he  was  an  old  man.  His  cheerfulness  and  vivacity,  as  he  moved 
about  our  streets  or  participated  in  public  services,  and  his  mental 
force  in  preaching  and  teaching,  even  when  his  voice  was  weak, 
rendered  his  ministrations  interesting,  profitable  and  acceptable  to  the 
last.     We  never  have  been  able  to  think  of  our  brother  as  old.     He 


38 

never  did  grow  old,  for  his  last  service  as  a  minister  and  teacher  was 
among  the  children  and  was  performed  in  the  interests  of  the  Sabbath- 
School  which  bore  the  honored  name  of  "  The  Imbrie  Mission  ", 
and  which,  by  its  union  with  the  Grand  Street  Sabbath-school,  will 
perpetuate  his  memory  and  his  influence. 

I  feel  that  in  representing  the  ministers  of  Jersey  City  I  must  have 
in  view  first  the  little  circle  which  until  a  few  weeks  ago  was  unbroken, 
composed  of  brothers  Verrinder,  Parmly,  Imbrie  and  myself,  and  I  may 
add  the  name  of  Dr.  Rice,  who  was  for  so  many  years  associated  with 
us.  It  would  be  hard  to  find,  within  such  a  limited  circle  and  in  such 
a  changing  population,  a  quartet  of  ministers  who  could  look  back 
over  a  pastorate  of  forty  years  in  which  they  had  been  co-laborers. 
And  I  can  say  from  my  heart  that  I  do  not  believe  there  are  many 
examples  of  fraternal  union  so  close,  so  warm,  so  sincere  as  in  the 
union  of  these  brethern  who  have  dwelt  together  in  unity  until  parted 
by  death.  I  have  often  heard  this  fraternal  unity  of  pastors  of  different 
denominations  spoken  of  in  the  sentiment,  if  not  the  words,  of  the 
Psalmist,  "  Behold,  how  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is." 

I  feel  that  in  representing  the  Jersey  City  ministers,  the  younger  as 
well  as  the  older  pastors,  I  need  not  hesitate  to  speak  as  with  one 
voice  the  sentiments  of  all.  There  is  no  one  here,  and  there  is  no 
one  anywhere  to  differ  or  dissent.  Dr.  Imbrie  was  a  scholarly  man. 
We  who  were  associated  with  him  in  literary  and  theological  studies 
and  discussions  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  he  was  a  leader  in 
scholarship  among  all  the  ministers  in  Jersey  City.  He  was  a  modest 
man,  as  all  true  scholars  are.  He  was  a  conservative  man,  never 
extravagant  in  his  public  utterances,  never  sensational  in  the  common 
meaning  of  that  term.  He  was  a  brotherly  and  a  manly  man.  He 
was  tender  and  loving,  affectionate  and  true.  He  was  a  Godly  man, 
an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  was  no  guile  ;  as  transparent  as  crystal. 
He  was  careful  not  to  wound  the  feelings  of  others.  I  have  never 
heard  a  sentence  or  a  word  from  Dr.  Imbrie's  lips  that  indicated  an 
unkind  feeling  or  a  resentful  spirit.  I  have  never  heard  from  him  a 
sarcastic  utterance  intended  to  wound  his  brethren  or  calculated  to 
hurt  the  most  tender  sensibilities. 

If  Dr.  Imbrie  had  his  failings,  I  am  not  able  to  speak  of  them,  for 
somehow  or  other  I  could  not  see  them. 

It  was  my  happy  privilege  to  visit  him  a  few  days  before  his  illness 
assumed  a  severe  and  dangerous  form.     We  indulged  in  our  usual 


39 

cheerful  conversation,  he  urging  me  to  stay  longer  ;  and  then,  after  a 
prayer  and  a  warm  pressure  of  the  hand  that  had  so  often  grasped 
mine,  we  parted,  never  to  meet  or  speak  to  each  other  on  earth. 

Heaven  seems  brighter  as  one  after  another  of  the  friends  we  have 
loved  on  earth  are  gathered  there,  and  not  the  least  of  its  anticipated 
pleasures  will  be  the  meeting  with  him  and  kindred  spirits  in  the 
mansions  of  our  "  Father's  House." 

After  the  choir  had  sung  the  hymn  beginning, 

"  Fairest  Lord  Jesus!  Ruler  of  All  Nature  r 
the  Rev.  David  Magie,  D.  D.,  of  Paterson,  on  behalf  of  the  Presby- 
tery of  Jersey  City,  spoke  as  follows  : — 

It  is  not  easy  within  the  few  moments  of  time  allotted  to  one 
speaker  to  express  that  sense  of  regard  and  reverence  which  filled  the 
heart  of  every  member  of  our  Presbytery  for  Dr.  Imbrie.  Through 
all  the  years  of  our  Presbyterial  existence  he  has  filled  the  most  prom- 
inent place  in  our  counsels  and  actions  and  has  been  regarded  with 
feelings  of  love  and  admiration  as  our  head  and  leader. 

Beyond  the  grateful  recollections  of  a  score  of  years  in  Presbyterial 
associations  and  personal  friendship,  my  memory  recalls  Dr.  Imbrie 
before  he  came  to  this  city,  when  in  my  father's  house  and  in  my 
father's  pulpit  I  saw  in  him  the  ideal  of  a  Christian  gentleman  and 
scholar  and  minister.  The  passing  years  and  closer  intercourse  have 
deepened  those  impressions.  The  inner  life,  the  private  character, 
and  the  public  work  have  made  but  one  impression  on  all  who  knew 
him. 

How  then  can  one  speak  of  such  a  life  !  What  is  there  to  say  .' 
When  you  have  spoken  of  a  circle  as  round,  what  more  can  be 
said  }  How  well  rounded  were  the  character  and  life  of  Dr.  Imbrie  ; 
how  trulv  centred  in  Jesus  Christ,  whom  he  loved  and  served  1 
Always  there  seemed  to  come  from  his  speech  and  actions  a  single 
influence,  always  there  seemed  to  be  made  the  same  impression  of 
truthfulness  and  honesty.  His  whole  life  was  so  true,  so  sweet,  so 
sincere,  so  loving,  so  open,  you  seemed  to  read  it  at  once,  and  to 
know  it  all.  You  seemed  to  look  into  his  very  soul,  so  calm,  so  trans- 
parent, so  loving,  and  to  know  and  love  him  at  once.  There  was 
nothing  to  be  hidden.  I  know  not  where  you  will  find  a  man  better 
loved,  nor  one  who  more  deserved  to  be  loved.  Like  the  beloved 
disciple,  whom  he  resembled  much  in  spirit,  he  ever  seemed  to  say 
"  love  one  another. " 


40 

In  our  Presbytery  he  became  naturally  a  leader  not  through  any 
assumption  of  superiority  on  his  part,  nor  even  on  account  of  his  age. 
His  mental  vigor  so  endured,  his  interest  in  affairs  so  remained  active, 
that  no  one  ever  associated  with  him  any  of  the  weaknesses  of  age. 
He  was  our  leader,  because  we  felt  the  strength  that  was  in  him,  the 
strength  of  a  well-disciplined  mind,  the  strength  of  excellent  scholar- 
ship, the  strength  of  a  sound  judgment,  the  strength  of  sure  prin- 
ciples, the  strength  of  self-control,  the  strength  of  a  consecrated  life. 
Through  the  long  years  of  his  active  ministry  he  had  acquired  such  a 
knowledge  of  the  law  and  practice  of  our  Church,  his  opinion  settled 
questions  in  debate.  An  appeal  to  him  was  regarded  as  a  final 
judgment. 

Beyond,  and  above  this,  in  Dr.  Imbrie  were  ever  found  the  true 
gentlemen  and  the  sincere  Christian,  as  well  as  the  minister.  What- 
ever may  be  the  gifts  possessed,  there  is  needed  for  a  true  character 
and  life  the  man  and  the  Christian.  The  truest  man  needs  the  beauty 
of  the  life  and  influence  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  was  the  glory  of  Dr. 
Imbrie's  character,  and  the  secret  of  his  power.  Whoever  failed  to 
recognize  in  him  a  Christian  gentleman  ?  Whoever  heard  him  offer 
prayer  and  did  not  feel  that  his  life  was  a  walk  with  God  .?  What 
unction  there  was  in  his  prayers  1  His  face  glowed  with  light  of  Him 
with  whom  he  talked.  Such  a  character  and  such  a  life  are  as  rare 
as  they  are  beautiful. 

We  have  seen  Dr.  Imbrie  in  our  Presbytery  when  his  church  was 
strong  and  vigorous,  and  we  have  seen  him  when  the  Church  he  loved 
and  served  so  many  years  had  to  lose  its  practical  existence.  Events 
beyond  human  control  drove  from  the  region  of  his  Church  its 
members.  In  the  severance  of  those  ties  between  pastor  and  people, 
and  in  the  apparent  undoing  of  what  he  had  labored  to  do,  there  was 
the  truest  test  of  his  real  manhood  and  Christian  principle.  Those 
who  saw  him  pass  through  those  days  of  trial  can  attest  the  power  of 
Divine  grace  in  him.  With  beautiful  submission,  uncomplaining 
resignation,  and  cheerful  confidence,  he  bowtd  to  the  Divine  will  and 
laid  down  his  active  work.  Never  did  he  more  adorn  his  Christian 
character  and  his  services  for  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Through  all  the 
years  of  his  ministry  we  can  bear  witness  to  the  praise  of  Divine  grace 
there  was  a  growing  ripeness  for  service  in  the  Church  below  and  for 
glory  in  the  Church  above. 

The  memory  of  Dr.  Imbrie  will  ever  remain  with  the  Presbytery  of 


41 

Jersey  City  a  benediction  to  bless  us,  and  an  inspiration  to    follow 
him  as  he  followed  Christ. 

The  Rev,  J.  D.  Wells,  D.  D. ,  President  of  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions,  then  delivered  the  following  address  : — 

It  is  not  easy  for  one  who  knew  and  loved  Dr.  Imbrie  more  than 
forty  years,  and  who  bears  in  tender  remembrance  his  love  for  the 
Saviour,  with  his  desire  for  his  presence  here  and  hereafter  and  the 
coming  of  his  kingdom,  to  grieve  that  he  has  departed  to  be  forever 
with  the  Lord.  For  his  surviving  kindred  and  ourselves  we  may 
well  have  tears.  For  the  Church  here  and  the  missionary  work  of  the 
Church  in  all  the  world,  we  could  have  wished  him  to  remain  longer 
as  our  fellow-worker  unto  the  kingdom.  But  for  himself  and  "the 
church  of  the  first  born  whose  names  are  written  in  Heaven",  we 
have  only  congratulations  and  salutations  of  joy  and  peace.  He  has 
fallen  asleep  in  Jesus.  He  rests  from  his  labors  and  his  works  do 
follow  him.  After  a  short  illness,  and  cared  for  by  those  who  loved 
him  best,  he  comes  "to  the  grave  in  a  full  age,  like  as  a  shock  of 
corn  Cometh  in  his  season  ",  and  "being  dead  he  yet  speaketh."' 

May  I  not  add  that  to  the  Blessed  Christ  who  saved  him  by  his 
grace,  called  him  into  the  ministry  and  made  him  what  he  was  in  all 
the  relations  of  life, —  to  Him  we  give  most  heartfelt  thanks  ;  that 
He  lent  him  to  us  so  long  and  for  such  long  and  varied  service  ;  and 
that  in  taking  him  away  at  last  He  left  to  us  in  his  character  and  life, 
as  we  have  heard,  the  assurance  that  he  had  received  him  unto 
himself. 

For  reasons  that  I  may  suggest  later,  I  would  wish  that  my 
knowledge  of  Dr,  Imbrie's  lineage  and  earliest  years  made  it  possible 
for  me  to  speak  of  the  influences  that  had  to  do  with  the  moulding 
of  his  character  to  the  beauty  and  strength  which  we  know  it  had. 
Rarelv,  if  ever,  does  a  personality  like  his  come  from  other  than  a 
godly  parentage  and  a  Christian  home.  I  do  not  remember  to  have 
heard  Dr.  Imbrie  speak  of  his  parents,  or  of  the  years  spent  under 
their  care.  But  I  have  often  thought  of  the  correspondence  between 
his  erect  form  and  beautiful  countenance  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
inner  man  of  his  heart,  as  we  knew  it,  on  the  other.  And  in  doing 
so  I  have  been  very  sure  that  the  rare  excellencies  of  his  parents  and 
remoter  ancestors  were  repeated  in  himself. 

My  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Imbrie  began  in  the  year  1849.     He 


42 

was  then  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Rahway,  N.  J. 
Graduating  from  Princeton  College  in  1835,  and  from  the  Seminary 
in  1839.  He  had  been  in  Rahway  about  eleven  years.  Under  his 
strong  and  blessed  ministry  the  church  there  had  grown  in  numbers 
and  resources.  And  the  place  was  beginning  to  feel  the  pulsations 
of  a  new  life,  and  was  growing  away  from  the  old  centres  of  population. 
There  was  clearly  a  call  for  a  second  Presbyterian  Church.  Dr. 
Imbrie  favored  the  enterprise,  and  with  his  brethren  of  the  Session 
willingly  surrendered  influential  families  for  the  nucleus  of  the  new 
organization.  I  was  requested  by  him  and  them  to  consider  the 
question  of  becoming  the  first  pastor.  That  church,  I  need  hardly 
tell  you,  under  the  able  and  consecrated  ministry  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Leggitt,  has  become  one  of  the  strongest  churches  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Elizabeth  ;  while  the  mother  church  has  the  joy  of  its  loving  co-opera- 
tion in  the  growing  City. 

In  the  year  1852  Dr.  Imbrie  became  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Jersey  City,  and  until  1888,  a  peroid  of  36  years,  gave  to 
it  the  full  service  of  a  faithful  and  laborious  pastorate,  happily  con- 
tinuing from  the  latter  date  until  his  death  pastor  emeritus  of  the  same 
church  in  its  new  location  and  sanctuary. 

I  have  not  forgotten  that  in  this  service  I  am  asked  to  represent  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  of  which  Dr.  Imbiie  was  an  active  and 
most  useful  member  up  to  the  end  of  his  life.  But  I  have  referred 
to  him  in  other  and  certainly  important  relations  because  I  am  sure 
that  his  usefulness  in  the  Board  grew  largely  out  of  habits,  and  a 
combination  of  qualities,  intellectual  and  spiritual,  that  were  nurtured 
and  developed  in  the  pastoral  office,  in  the  editor's  chair,  in  association 
with  men  charged  as  Trustees  with  the  care  of  the  College  of  New 
Jersey,  and  in  faithful  and  helpful  attendance  upon  meetings  of 
Presbytery,  Synod  and  General  Assembly. 

With  rare  natural  endowments,  the  best  culture  of  the  schools  and 
severe  application  to  useful  studies  in  all  his  later  years,  he  brought 
to  the  service  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  a  mind  and  a  heart 
of  large  resources,  with  truest  consecration  to  the  Master  and  his 
cause. 

How  tender  and  fervent  and  graciously  bold,  how  comprehensive 
and  minutely  particular  were  his  prayers  !  The  very  tones  of  his  voice 
linger  in  our  ears.  We  cannot  forget  his  importunate  pleadings  for 
the  coming  of  the  Kingdom,  by  the  witness  bearing  of  the  Church  and 


43 

the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  hearts  of  men.  The  fact  that  a 
beloved  son  was  in  a  commanding  position  of  usefulness  among  the 
most  progressive  people  with  whom  we  have  to  do  kept  him  in  a  living 
touch  with  the  great  work  of  missions  in  all  the  world. 

We  shall  miss  him  all  the  more  because  of  the  promptness  and 
constancy  of  his  attendance  upon  the  meetings  of  the  Board.  He 
felt  that  a  dispensation  of  the  Gospel  for  the  race  was  committed  to 
him  in  common  with  the  other  members  of  the  Board  and  its  Exe- 
cutive Officers  ;  and  heart  and  conscience  both  constrained  him  to 
utmost  fidelity.  Devotion  to  the  Master  whom  he  loved  with  an  ever 
increasing  love  as  his  years  were  multiplied  made  it  a  joy  for  him  to  do 
with  his  might  any  special  service,  however  delicate  and  severe,  that 
was  entrusted  to  him,  with  others  or  alone,  as  well  as  to  bear  his  full 
part  in  all  our  counsels. 

Dr.  Imbrie  came  into  the  Board  in  1857,  when  it  was  a  large  body 
chosen  by  the  General  Assembly,  and  representing  what  was  known 
as  the  old-school  branch  of  the  Church  in  all  the  land.  It  con- 
sisted of  nearly  a  hundred  members — ministers  and  laymen — and  met 
but  once  in  the  year.  The  business  of  the  Board  in  the  care  of  the 
missions  was  transacted  by  an  Executive  Committee  of  five  ministers 
and  four  laymen,  the  Executive  Officers  being  members  of  it  in  virtue 
of  their  office;  and  this  Committee  met  every  Monday  morning,  as  a 
rule,  in  the  City  of  New  York. 

Dr.  Imbrie  was  a  member  of  the  Board  but  not  of  the  Committee  ; 
and  immediately  upon  coming  into  the  Board  he  was  made  Record- 
ing Secretary,  and  continued  to  be  such  thirteen  years,  until  1870, 
at  the  happy  re-union  of  the  long  severed  branches  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  the  Board  was  re-constructed  and  became  what  it  now  is,  an 
incorporated  Board  of  ten  ministers  and  nine  laymen.  It  was 
because  Dr.  Imbrie  held  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer,  and  was  known 
to  be  an  exceptionally  careful  and  competent  Secretary  that  he  was 
held  to  that  service  by  the  old  Board  for  so  many  consecutive  years. 

Since  1870  he  has  given  twenty-one  years  to  the  new  Board,  with 
its  new  methods  and  its  ever-increasing  area  of  work.  None  of  its 
members  have  more  intelligently  and  joyfully  watched  the  progress 
of  the  work  than  Dr.  Imbrie.  We  have  together  seen  nine  missions 
supplemented  by  fourteen,  making  twenty-three  in  all,  with  a  multi- 
tude of  out-stations  ;  seventy  ordained  missionaries  increased  to  210, 
with  many  hnndred  laborers  of  other  classes  co-operating  with  them; 


44 

a  native  membership  of  900  grown  to  nearly  30,000,  besides  the 
hundreds  and  thousands  that  have  finished  their  course  and  entered 
into  rest;  an  expenditure  for  the  work  done  in  1857  of  $214,000, 
grown  to  an  expenditure  for  the  work  done  in  the  year  ending  April 
30th,  1891,  of  $972,517.  But  I  may  not  multiply  statements  of  the 
work  done  by  our  part  of  the  Church,  and  the  entire  Protestant 
Church,  during  the  34  years  of  Dr.  Imbrie's  active  service.  I  cannot 
believe  that  he  is  ignorant  of  what  has  been  celebrated  in  Heaven  as 
the  years  have  passed. 

As  I  have  sat  in  the  Board  and  co-operated  with  him  and  others 
during  these  years,  I  have  seen  absolutely  nothing  in  him  that  I 
could  now  wish  to  blot  or  change.  Tenacious  of  his  opinions  when 
he  had  facts  on  which  to  base  them,  firm  in  his  judgments,  and  always 
very  clear  in  the  statements  he  had  occasion  to  make,  he  still  knew 
how  to  yield  gracefully,  if,  in  any  case,  he  failed  to  carry  the  Board 
with  him. 

Personally  I  shall  miss  him  more  almost  than  my  brethren  of  fewer 
years,  for  we  were  of  one  age.  Thinking  of  him  as  he  now  is,  and  of 
the  little  time  that  will  keep  us  apart,  I  cannot  withhold  the  expres- 
sion of  my  joy.  Thinking  of  the  great  cause  itself,  and  of  his  pres- 
ence with  the  multitude  that  preceded  him  and  are  forever  with  the 
Lord,  and  like  Him,  I  will  not  allow  myself  to  doubt  for  a  moment 
that  he  and  they  are  mighty  personal  forces  in  relation  to  the  same 
work  that  commands  the  ministry  of  all  the  holy  angels,  and  fills  the 
heart  and  the  hands  of  the  Lord  of  Angels.  And  this,  brethren,  is 
the  work  that  we  are  commanded  to  do  without  regard  Do  its  diffi- 
culties and  delays  and  discouragements.  The  power  is  with  the 
enthroned,  almighty  and  most  gracious  Saviour.  This  he  claimed 
when  he  gave  the  commission.  "All  power,"  He  said,  "is  given  unto 
me  in  Heaven  and  in  earth.  Go  ye  therefore  and  make  disciples  of 
all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoevbr 
I  have  commanded  you ;  and  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the 
end  of  the  world.     Amen." 

May  the  children  and  the  children's  children  of  our  beloved 
brother  perpetuate  his  influence  in  the  world,  and  be  comforted  with 
the  consolations  of  God,  which  are  neither  few  nor  small.  The 
Heavenly  Father  is  as  near  to  Japan  as  to  us,  and  the  exalted  Jesus 
is  as  true  to  the  dear  ones  there  as  to  you  who  are  here.     To  you  and 


45 

to  them  alike  He  says,  "  I  will  not  leave  you  orphans.  I  will  come 
to  you."  One  in  your  grief,  may  you  be  one  in  the  sacred  joy  of 
your  common  parentage,  and  of  a  filial  relation  to  the  God  of  your 
father  and  your  mother.  For  this  church,  its  pastor  and  elders  and 
members  in  particular,  we  invoke  a  double  portion  of  the  spirit  of 
grace  and  supplication  and  consecration  that  made  Dr.  Imbrie  what 
he  was  in  his  character  and  life  and  work,  even  unto  death. 

For  ourselves,  as  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  and  the  Church  at 
large,  we  can  ask  nothing  more  in  preparation  for  the  work  which  the 
Master  gives  us  to  do.  The  work  remains,  and  what  a  work  it  is  ! 
The  great  commission  outlines  and  measures  it.  Does  it  lose  in  its 
claims  upon  our  thoughts  and  prayers  and  labor  and  stewardship  of 
the  Lord's  treasure  by  the  breaking  of  our  ranks  ?  The  long  line  of 
co-workers  from  the  beginning  can  answer  with  only  one  voice. 
Personally,  we  who  are  here  to-day  to  bury  our  precious  dead  look 
back  but  a  little  way,  though  we  measure  the  way  by  decades  and 
even  scores  of  years.  Of  the  nine  men  who  composed  the  Executive 
Committee  when  I  entered  it  in  1854  but  three  remain,  and  two  of 
the  three  are  now  in  service.  Dr.  Phillips,  Dr.  Potts,  Mr.  Lenox,  Mr. 
Stuart,  Mr.  Ward,  Mr.  Carter  are  gone.  The  Recording  Secretary  of 
the  Board  as  then  constituted,  Dr.  McDonald,  and  the  auditors, 
James  Donaldson  and  Thomas  Pringle,  are  gone.  It  would  startle 
you  should  I  read  the  names  of  the  large  Board  of  that  day  that  are 
gone  too.  The  venerable  John  C.  Lowrie,  D.  D.,  then  associated 
with  his  father  of  blessed  memory  Walter  Lowrie,  and  J.  Leighton 
Wilson,  as  Corresponding  Secretary,  and  Wm.  Rankin,  Treasurer,  are 
left  as  living  links  holding  us  to  the  workers  of  that  day. 

But,  my  dear  brethren,  the  cause  remains.  At  the  touch  of  Christ, 
the  head  of  the  Church  and  head  over  all  things  to  the  Church,  the 
world  opens.  The  peoples  of  the  world  are  accessible  and  expectant. 
The  Church  herself  asks  for  a  new  recognition  in  her  venerable  con- 
fession of  God's  love  for  the  world,  of  Christ's  relation  to  it,  and  of 
the  Holy  Spirit's  presence  in  it.  Science  and  art  and  commerce  are 
helpers  of  the  Church.  We  flash  important  messages  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth  with  lightning  speed.  Swift  ships  carry  our  missionaries 
across  the  wide  seas,  and  up  and  down  all  inland  waters  ;  and  swifter 
trains  bear  them  from  sea-ports  to  the  places  of  their  blessed  service. 

And  with  all,  and  best  of  all,  converts  are  multiplied.  Systems  of 
false  religion,  hoary  with   age,  and  proved  to  have  long  deceived  the 


46 

nations,  are  forced  to  give  way  before  the  migtit  of  Him  whose  name 
is  "  The  Word  of  God  ",  whose  Representative  is  the  Personal  Spirit 
of  God,  and  whose  great  instrument  of  saving  power  is  "the  word  of 
reconciliation",  voiced  by  the  life  and  from  the  hearts  of  "the  minis- 
try of  reconciliation  ",  and  witnessed  unto  by  the  holy  Catholic 
Church. 

Fathers  and  brethren  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  and  all 
.whose  co-workers  and  servants  we  are,  let  the  passing  from  earth  to 
heaven,  from  toil  and  conflict  here  to  rest  and  victory  there,  of  such 
men  as  I  have  named,  and  our  precious  brother  and  fellow-laborer, 
Charles  K.  Imbrie  among  them,  be  an  inspiration  to  more  joyful, 
hopeful,  and  helpful  service  to  our  Blessed  Master  and  the  cause  that 
he  loves.     Amen. 

After  the  singing  of  the  hymn, 

"  Hark!  Hark,  My  Soul :  Angelic  Songs  are  Swelling," 
the  Rev.   F.  L.  Patton,  D.  D,,  LL.  D.,  President  of  the  College  of 
New  Jersey,  spoke  as  follows  : — 

My  Dear  Christian  Friends, — It  is  only  a  few  weeks  ago  that  I  had 
the  pleasure  of  standing  in  this  pulpit  and  taking  part  in  the  dedica- 
tory services  in  connection  with  the  opening  of  this  house  of  worship. 
I  think  those  of  us  who  were  here  that  night  must  remember  the 
comprehensive,  tender  and  spiritual  prayer  that  was  offered  on  that 
occasion  by  Dr.  Imbrie.  To-day  we  meet  in  the  same  house  of 
worship  to  think  only  of  Dr.  Imbrie  as  taking  part  in  the  services  of 
the  Upper  Sanctuary.  I  have  been  asked  to  say  a  word  this  afternoon 
because,  in  the  providence  of  God,  I  was  associated  with  Dr.  Imbrie 
in  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey  ;  but 
my  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Imbrie  goes  back  beyond  the  period  of 
my  relation  to  Princeton  College.  He  and  I  were  co-presbyters  in 
the  old  First  Presbytery  of  New  York,  twenty-five  years  ago.  We 
were  members  together  of  an  association  of  ministers  as  far  back  as 
that.  To  that  ministerial  association  I  owe  far  more  than  I  could 
express  here,  and  I  make  this  personal  reference  here  and  now 
because  I  think  it  serves  to  throw  light  upon  a  phase  of  Dr.  Imbrie's 
nature  and  character  that  has  not  been  alluded  to. 

You  know  him  as  he  went  in  and  out  among  the  people  of  his 
charge ;  others  know  him  in  his  relations  to  the^Presbytery,  and  in 
connection  with  his  thorough  interest  in    mastery  of  the  practical 


47 

affairs  of  ecclesiastical  life  ;  but  I  like  to  think  of  him  in  the  relation 
that  I  sustained  to  him, — as  the  young  minister  looking  up  to  his 
senior.  Ministers  sustain  different  relations.  They  are  related  to 
their  people,  but  they  are  also  related  to  one  another ;  and  it  is  in 
this  relation  that  they  sustain  to  one  another — of  seniors  to  their 
juniors — that  they  have  the  opportunity  of  showing  the  finest  phases 
of  their  nature.  There  was  never  any  assumption  of  superiority  on 
the  part  of  Dr.  Imbrie.  He  never  was  too  busy  to  give  heed  to  the 
suggestions  that  might  come  from  a  younger  man  ;  he  never  was  too 
much  interested  in  public  affairs  to  take  a  warm,  living,  personal 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  his  juniors  in  the  ministry.  I  think  ministers 
sometimes  forget  what  opportunities  they  have  here.  I  think  that 
older  ministers  do  not  always  know  what  heroes  they  always  seem  to 
the  young  man,  because  he  looks  up  to  them,  he  finds  inspiration  in 
their  life  and  their  example,  and  he  gets  a  crumb  of  comfort  when  he 
needs  it  most  from  some  kindly  suggestion.  I  look  back  with  grati- 
tude to  the  warm  friendship  between  myself  and  Dr.  Imbrie.  What 
was  true  of  my  own  relation  to  him  was  true  of  other  men  likewise 
sustaining  the  same  relation  of  juniors  to  their  seniors.  If  a  young 
minister  wanted  to  leave  his  parish,  Dr.  Imbrie  was  always  ready  to 
use  his  influence  in  his  behalf.  If  he  wrote  an  article  or  read  a 
paper  Dr.  Imbrie  was  never  slow  in  showing  his  appreciation,  and 
never  stinted  in  his  praise.  If  he  thought  he  could  write  for  the 
press,  and  wanted  an  introduction  that  might  assist  him  in  his  plans. 
Dr.  Imbrie  was  the  first  to  volunteer  to  give  it.  I  say  this  in  grateful 
recollection  of  personal  experience. 

I  cannot  help  referring  also  to  another  feature  in  Dr.  Imbrie's  life 
that  has  already  been  spoken  of.  To  me  it  seems  to  be  such  a 
splendid  example  of  what  a  busy  minister  may  be  and  do.  He  was 
faithful  in  his  pulpit  preparations,  as  you  know.  He  was  prompt  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  a  member  of  the  Presbytery.  But 
besides  that  he  made  it  his  duty  to  keep  up  his  studies.  He  was  a 
scholar,  and  he  was  a  scholar  in  lines  that  do  not  always  commend 
themselves  to  ministers,  because  those  lines  of  study  are  not  always 
regarded  as  practical.  He  could  read  his  Hebrew  bible,  and  he  did 
read  it ;  and  he  was  fond  of  the  study  of  the  Old  Testament,  led  to 
it  principally,  perhaps,  by  his  interest  in  the  study  of  prophecy.  But 
more  than  that,  I  can  remember,  and  I  can  speak  particularly  as  to 
the  papers  that  he  used  to  write  on  practical  questions,  questions  in- 


48 

volving  the  settlement  of  or  dealing  with  fundamental  principles  in 
the  sphere  of  practical  Christian  ethics.  I  remember  the  clearness 
with  which  he  presented  his  views  ;  and  the  comprehensive  grasp  of 
questions,  much  larger  than  those  he  happened  to  be  discussing, 
which  these  papers  evince. 

So,  that  having  known  him  so  long,  when  as  it  happened  four 
years  ago  I  came  into  the  Presidency  of  Princeton  College,  I  did  not 
come  as  a  stranger  at  least  to  Dr.  Imbrie.  He  grasped  my  hand  as 
that  of  an  old  friend.  He  was  one  of  the  oldest  members  of  our 
Board  of  Trustees, — he  was  third,  I  think,  in  seniority  in  the  Board. 
He  was  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  all  the  duties  connected  with  that 
work.  He  was  a  wise  counsellor.  He  was  profoundly  interested  in 
the  College — himself  a  graduate  of  the  College,  and  he  had  sent  two 
sons  there,  who  are  still  the  ardent,  earnest  supporters  of  Princeton 
College  ;  and  he  was  a  faithful  custodian  of  its  interests. 

A  rounded  life  has  thus  been  completed.  Generous,  affectionate> 
wonderfully  kind,  a  prudent  counsellor,  a  wise  ecclesiastic,  an 
earnest  advocate  of  all  the  interests  in  connection  with  which  he  had 
responsibility,  he  has  finished  his  work  ;  and  for  him  to  depart  is  to 
be  with  Christ.  He  leaves  behind  him  a  sweet  memory,  and  we  think 
of  this  as  we  speak  a  word  of  sympathy  to  those  who  have  been 
bereaved.  He  has  fought  a  good  fight,  he  has  finished  his  course,  he 
has  kept  the  faith  ;  and  doubtless  his  first  greeting  on  yonder  shore 
came  from  the  parted  lips  of  the  Master  whom  he  served,  "Well 
done,  good  and  faithful  servant,  enter  the  joy  of  your  Lord. " 

The  pastor  of  the  Church  then  said  : — 

I  think  there  is  at  least  one  more  word  to  say,  and  one  that  can  be 
said  only  by  a  member  of  this  Church,  with  which  Dr.  Imbrie  was 
connected  as  pastor  for  the  past  i8  months.  We  think  that  the 
crown  and  the  glory  of  his  life  was  in  this  time,  in  these  last  and 
mellowest  and  chastest  days,  and  was  exemplified  most  strikingly  and 
truly  in  the  daily  intercourse  which  he  had  with  us  in  this  religious 
family.  It  was  here  and  in  these  last  times  that  we  felt  that  he 
showed  most  the  marks  of  the  Prince  of  God.  He  was  first  among 
us  in  learning  and  wisdom  surely,  most  surely  in  the  Christ-spirit 
which  made  him  servant  of  all.  Such  a  meekness,  such  a  humility, 
such  an  unselfishness,  such  a  self-effacement  in  one  of  so  elevated 
piety  and  so  extraordinary  worth,  made  an  exhibition  that  has  filled 
us  vvith  inexpressible  wonder  and  affection.     Jesus  gave  at  the  very 


49 

last  the  most  signal  proof  of  his  lordship  and  love  when  he  washed 
the  disciples'  feet,  who  were  amazed  and  bewildered  at  the  infinite 
condescension.  In  such  a  way  to  us  did  Dr.  Imbrie's  lovely  pre- 
eminence utter  itself.  His  beautiful  service  on  our  behalf  for  Christ's 
sake  will  always  be  an  affecting  remembrance  and  inspiration. 

The  following  prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rev.  John  W.  Teal,  D.D., 
of  Elizabeth  : — 

O  God,  our  Father,  we  have  spoken  one  to  another  of  a  rarely 
beautiful  life.  We  have  spoken  many  things  of  the  Christian  charac- 
ter and  distinguished  service  of  one  who  has  gone  from  us.  Now  we 
turn  our  hearts  for  a  little  time  unto  Thee,  ere  we  go  from  this 
House  to  the  place  of  the  dead.  We  would  lift  up  our  voices  to 
Thee  in  prayer  and  supplication  mingled  with  thanksgiving ;  and 
first  of  all  we  would  thank  Thee  for  what  we  have  known  and  ex- 
perienced in  the  companionship  and  in  fellowship  with  the  departed 
one.  We  thank  Thee  for  what  he  was  as  a  man,  that  Thou  didst 
endow  him  with  rare  gifts  of  mind  and  heart.  We  thank  Thee  for 
the  use  he  made  of  these  gifts,  making  the  one  talent  five  and  the  five 
talents  ten.  We  thank  Thee  for  what  he  was  as  a  Christian  minister, 
in  all  the  faithfulness  that  he  showed.  Even  as  Moses  was  faithful 
in  Pharoah's  house  as  a  servant,  so  our  beloved  brother  was  faithful 
in  the  least  things  and  in  the  chief. 

We  give  Thee  thanks,  our  Father,  for  what  our  beloved  brother 
was  in  his  relations  to  his  brethren  in  the  ministry,  in  the  Presbytery, 
in  the  Synod,  in  the  highest  courts  of  the  Church,  and  in  his  relations 
to  the  great  institutions  of  education  and  missionary  interest.  We 
thank  Thee  for  all  that  he  was  enabled  to  do  as  a  cultivated  and 
earnest  and  loving  servant  of  Christ  to  further  educational  and  mis- 
sionary interests. 

We  thank  Thee  for  what  he  was  as  husband  and  father  and  friend, 
for  what  he  was  as  pastor  to  his  people,  and  for  what  he  has  been  to 
all  who  have  known  him  in  the  bonds  of  Christian  faith  and  love. 
We  give  Thee  thanks,  dear  Father,  that  we  can  meet  here  this  after- 
noon not  as  those  who  sorrow  without  hope,  but  that  our  sorrow  is 
lifted  up  into  a  great  and  holy  joy,  and  that  we  forget  our  sadness  in 
our  rejoicing  in  his  behalf, — that  we  forget  that  we  shall  no  longer 
meet  him  in  the  rejoicing  of  heart  that  he  has  gone  to  be  forever  with 
the  Lord,  in  the  Blessed  Presence,  in  that  home  where  no  night  is. 
and  where  all  is  light  and  joy. 


50 

We  give  Thee  thanks,  dear  Father,  for  the  thirty-five  years  of  faith- 
ful ministry  in  one  church,  for  the  more  than  three  decades  of  service 
in  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  We  thank  Thee  for  what  he  did 
as  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Synod  in  this  same  great  work  ; 
and  we  shall  not  forget  how  gentle  he  was  among  us,  how  ready  to 
prefer  in  honor  others  to  himself,  how  willing  to  be  nothing  if  he 
might  exalt  Christ,  and  to  serve  in  any  capacity  if  he  might  thereby 
further  the  interests  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  all  the  earth. 

And  now  as  we  mourn  his  departure  for  ourselves,  we  pray  Thee  a 
blessing  may  come  upon  us.  We  pray  that  his  mantle  of  love  may 
rest  upon  each  of  his  brethren  in  the  ministry  ;  that  the  institutions 
that  he  has  served  may  be  blessed  in  the  memory  of  this  godly  man, 
and  that  Thou  wilt  raise  up  others  to  take  his  place  in  the  work  ;  so 
that  the  cause  of  Christ,  which  he  had  ever  close  to  his  heart,  may 
not  be  stopped,  but  that  the  work  may  go  on,  because  of  the  memory 
of  his  service,  the  memory  of  his  prayers,  with  greater  power  and 
force.  To  Thy  loving  care  and  embrace  we  commend  the  immediate 
friends  of  our  brother  departed.  We  thank  Thee  that  Thou  art 
everywhere  the  same  God  ;  that  Thou  hast  care  of  them,  of  those  who 
belong  to  Thy  service  ;  and  although  the  fathers  depart,  the  children 
shall  be  in  their  places. 

We  commend  to  Thy  loving  care  this  church,  all  the  members  who 
survive  of  the  church  in  which  he  ministered  so  long  ,  and  may  those 
who  have  been  associated  with  him  rejoice  in  the  memory  that  he  has 
left  behind,  and  in  all  the  blessed,  purifying,  sanctifying  influences 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  exerted  upon  them  through  him.  May  we  go 
to  our  homes  and  to  our  places  of  work,  determined  to  be  more 
faithful,  to  be  more  earnest  in  the  defense  of  the  truth  ;  that  it  may 
be  said  of  us  that  we  have  fought  a  good  fight,  that  we  have  finished 
our  course,  that  we  are  ready  for  the  crown,  and  that  we  have  entered 
into  the  joy  of  our  Lord. 

We  ask  Thy  blessing  to  enter  upon  Thy  servant,  the  pastor  of  this 
church,  and  we  pray  that  Thou  will  make  him  more  and  more  a  man 
of  God,  taking  up  the  work  which  his  brother  in  the  ministry  laid 
down,  and  doing  faithfully  that  work  until  Thou  shalt  call  him  to  lay 
it  down .  May  Thy  kingdom  come  and  Thy  will  be  done  in  all  the 
earth.     We  ask  in  Jesus'  name.     Amen. 

After  the  singing  by  the  assembly  of  the  Long  Metre  Doxology, 
the  benediction  was  pronounced  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Patton. 


RESOLUTIONS. 


Extract  from  the  Minutes  of  the  Session  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Jersey  City. 

On  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Charles  K.  Imbrie,  D.  D.,  the  Session 
wish  to  mark  their  sense  of  the  sorrow  and  loss  sustained  by  this 
congregation  thereby. 

Dr.  Imbrie  was  connected  with  this  Church  only  for  the  brief 
period  of  eighteen  months  and  in  the  honorary  relation  of  Pastor 
Emeritus.  His  services  were  always  free,  generous,  devoted  and  of 
eminent  value.  In  the  pulpit,  where  unhappily  he  rarely  stood 
because  of  the  thinness  and  huskiness  of  his  voice ;  in  the  prayer- 
meeting,  from  which  he  was  never  absent,  and  where  he  shone  like  a 
great  light  ;  in  the  meeting  of  the  Sabbath-School  Teachers  for  the 
study  of  the  lesson,  which  he  conducted  with  an  unselfishness  of  toil 
and  a  wealth  of  learning  equally  unsurpassed  ;  at  the  Lord's  Table, 
where  he  presided  with  an  apostolic  venerableness  and  sweetness  ; 
in  all,  his  services  were  the  rare,  ever  fresh,  brilliant,  spiritual  activities 
of  an  accomplished  mind  and  a  lofty  soul. 

Beyond  all  outward  labors,  his  mere  presence  and  life  among  us 
were  a  benediction.  The  refinement  and  grace  of  his  manners,  the 
spiritual  beauty  of  his  countenance,  the  commanding  power  of  his 
example,  the  loving  gentleness  and  unction  of  his  speech  made  him 
an  inestimable  joy  and  blessing  to  the  people  among  whom  he  went 
out  and  in.  He  was  a  present  attestation  of  the  gospel  of  Divine 
grace.  He  was  an  angel  of  God,  to  unfold  astonishing  riches  from 
the  Holy  Scriptures  and  to  comfort  our  hearts  by  his  embodied 
assurance  of  the  heavenly  favor.  He  was  a  holy  and  blessed  father 
in  God,  and  he  passed  away  from  us  amid  universal  love,  reverence, 
and  sorrow. 

"  He  had  kept 
The  whiteness  of  his  soul,  and  thus  men  o'er  him  wept." 


Extract  from  the  Minutes  of  the  Presbytery  of  Jersey  City. 

Charles  Kisselman  Imbrie,  son  of  James  Imbrie  and  Margaretta 
Kisselman,  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  December  15,  18 14.  His 
grandfather,  great-grandfather  and  great-great-grandfather  were 
Scotch  Presbyterian  clergymen.     His  father  emigrated  in  early  man- 


54 

liood,  and  became  a  merchant  in  Philadelphia,  marrying  there,  and 
living  there  until  within  a  year  of  his  death.  He  was  revered  as  an 
honorable,  pious,  and  upright  man,  and  his  children  held  the  most 
grateful  recollections  of  a  happy  and  faithful  Christian  home. 

Charles  gained  the  education  which  was  considered  sufficient  for 
commercial  life  at  several  academical  institutions  in  his  native  city, 
and  had  spent  two  years  as  clerk  and  bookkeeper  in  a  business 
house,  when  being  converted  and  making  a  public  profession  of  his 
faith  in  a  Presbyterian  Church,  he  decided  to  study  for  the  ministry. 
To  that  end  he  entered  the  Freshman  class  of  the  College  of  New 
Jersey  in  183 1,  graduating  in  September,  1835.  After  a  year  of 
teaching  in  Natchez,  Miss.,  he  entered  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
Princeton,  where  his  graduation  was  delayed  by  sickness  until  1840. 
For  two  years  of  his  theological  course  he  also  served  as  tutor  in  the 
College. 

Being  soon  afterwards  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Philadelphia,  he  was  called  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Rahway,  N.  J.,  in  December,  1840,  and  was  ordained  and  installed 
the  following  January  by  the  Presbytery  of  Elizabethtown.  After 
eleven  years  of  honored  and  successful  labor,  he  relinquished  his 
pastorate  to  accept  that  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Jersey  City, 
over  which  he  was  installed  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  in 
February,  1852.  An  exceptionally  long  and  beautiful  union  followed, 
the  toil,  ability  and  consecration  of  Dr.  Imbrie  bringing  the  church 
up  in  strength  and  usefulness  to  the  front  rank  in  this  State.  But  as 
the  years  passed,  the  changes  of  time  revolutionized  the  character  of 
the  population  among  whom  the  sanctuary  was  located,  and  the  end 
of  its  existence  on  that  spot  became  inevitable.  Finally  he  and  his 
people  yielded  to  the  providential  constraint  of  circumstances. 
Public  services  ceased,  the  edifice  was  sold,  and  the  pastoral  relation 
dissolved  in  April,  1888,  Dr.  Imbrie,  however,  remaining  with  the 
people  to  moderate  the  Session  and  to  minister  in  their  homes  the 
comforts  and  instruction  of  the  Gospel.  These  essentially  tem- 
porary conditions  came  to  an  end  in  March,  1890,  when  the 
church  of  which  he  had  been  the  pastor  consolidated  with  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Bergen  to  form  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Jersey  City.  Of  this  new  church  Dr.  Imbrie  became  the  beloved 
pastor  emeritus,  and  resided  and  labored  within  its  bounds  until  his 
death,  November  20,  1891,  at  seventy-seven  years  of  age. 


55 

He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  in 
1856,  and  served  until  his  death.  He  received  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Divinity  from  the  College  of  New  Jersey  in  i860,  and  in  1861  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  During  the  years  1869 
and  1870  he  was  associate  editor  of  The  New  York  Evangelist.  He 
was  elected  moderator  of  the  Synod  of  New  Jersey  in  1870,  and  for 
many  years  was  the  Chairman  of  its  Committee  on  Foreign  Missions. 
He  was  one  of  the  members  by  whom  this  Presbytery  was  con- 
stituted at  the  Reunion,  and  his  services  were  unique  and  invaluable 
up  to  his  death.  In  May,  1841,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
Miller,  of  Philadelphia,  of  the  fruits  of  which  union  there  remain 
one  daughter  and  two  sons. 

Dr  Imbrie  was  a  man  of  very  exceptional  ministerial  attainments, 
and  of  very  finished  and  beautiful  piety.  As  a  preacher  he  was  or- 
thodox, Scriptural,  instructive,  elegant,  energetic,  persuasive,  and 
helpful.  There  was  maintained  a  uniformly  high  standard  of  Chris- 
tian thought  and  living  among  those  who  sat  continuously  under  his 
preaching.  Without  many  seasons  of  what  are  known  as  revivals, 
his  young  people  were,  at  maturity,  brought,  with  very  few  exceptions 
into  the  church.  His  methods  were  not  such  as  to  attract  those  who 
wander  from  place  to  place  in  search  of  novelties,  but  did  gather  and 
hold  those  who  wished  to  be  fed  with  the  substantial  Word  of  the 
living  God.  His  people  were  well  instructed  and  grew  up  in 
spiritual  strength  and  maturity  under  his  ministrations.  The  freedom, 
comprehensiveness,  sublimity,  and  unction  of  his  public  devotional 
exercises  were  markedly  impressive  and  uplifting.  He  was  a 
thorough  Presbyterian,  yet  a  real  brother  of  every  Christian,  of  what- 
ever name.  He  was  zealous  most  for  the  faith  and  holiness  of  the 
Gospel,  and  opponent  most  of  every  form  of  unbelief  and  sin. 

As  a  pastor  he  was  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  pitiful  toward  the  weak 
and  sinful,  long-suffering  toward  the  backslider,  a  rare  counsellor 
in  trouble,  a  grateful  comforter  in  affliction.  He  was  genial,  kindly, 
equable  in  temperament,  conciliatory,  a  promoter  of  harmony  ;  he 
fulfilled  a  pastorate  of  nearly  fifty  years  in  one  church  without  any 
disagreement  among  his  people.  Yet  he  was  not  a  man  of  yielding 
disposition  in  any  matter  which  touched  his  dignity  or  duty  as  a 
minister  of  the  Gospel ;  in  matters  of  faith  he  was  inflexibly  or- 
thodox, in  matters  of  practice  he  was  rigidly  true  to  the  principle  he 
might  feel  to  be  brought  in  question.     But  he  was  witlial  of  such 


56 

good  judgment  and  such  loving  temper,  that  he  retained  the  fealty 
of  those  who  differed  from  him,  and  none  ever  felt  a  doubt  of  his 
perfect  sincerity. 

No  greater  monument  to  his  praise  can  be  conceived  than  the 
consummate  acceptance  and  ability  by  which  he  held  together  for 
thirty-six  years  a  useful,  vigorous,  and  distinguished  church.  The 
exceeding  spiritual  beauty,  also,  of  his  submission  to  the  inevitable 
changes  of  time  which  gradually  erased  the  church  from  its  place, 
was  profoundly  impressive.  And  his  paternal  and  gracious  identifica- 
tion with  the  flock,  of  which  for  the  eighteen  months  before  his 
death  he  was  the  pastor  emeritus,  added  to  his  crown  perhaps  its 
purest  gems. 

As  an  ecclesiastic  he  was  beyond  praise.  He  was  the  continued 
joy,  admiration  and  strength  of  the  Presbytery,  for  his  faithful  attend- 
ance, for  his  indefatigable  and  sagacious  services  on  important  com- 
mittees, for  his  happy  discharge  of  delicate  functions,  for  his  power 
and  lucidity  of  argument,  for  his  manifold  usefulness,  for  the  safety 
of  his  counsels,  for  the  benignity  of  his  presence.  His  mental  and 
spiritual  equipment  as  a  presbyter  was  superb."  He  was  ripe  and 
mellow  in  all  learning  and  all  gracious  traits  of  heart.  He  was 
always  the  sympathetic  and  unaffected  friend  of  younger  brethren. 
His  mind  was  so  full  and  trained  that  he  was  instantly  ready  for  any 
debate,  whether  simple  or  abstruse  the  subject,  and  he  was  an  un- 
yielding, though  a  courteous  opponent.  He  had  a  profound  and 
systematic  knowledge  of  the  truth  divinely  revealed  ;  his  defense  of 
it  was  scholarly  and  convincing,  his  antagonism  to  error  was  quick 
and  formidable.  Loyalty  to  truth  made  him  superior  to  all  personal 
considerations  and  unreachable  by  any  bribe  of  friendship.  And  he 
was  so  high  above  animosities  and  prejudices,  that  he  seemed  never 
to  have  had  any  to  conquer.  There  was  no  diplomacy  in  him,  other 
than  Christian  love  and  meekness,  and  no  fear,  other  than  the  fear  of 
being  wrong. 

As  a  man  he  was  the  epitome  of  a  Christian  gentleman.  He  was  a 
complete  man,  strong  and  lovely.  His  character  was  spotless.  His 
influence  was  purifying  and  unworldly.  His  aims  were  divine. 
Highly  educated,  of  refined  manners  and  courtly  demeanor,  his  place 
was  among  princes.  His  benevolence  toward  rich  and  poor  was  of 
that  spontaneous  and  holy  quality  that  threw  no  shadow  of  patronage 
and  raised  no  suspicion  of  insincerity.     His  disposition  was  always 


57 

sympathetic,  bright,  and  attractive,  and  he  was  fresh  in  his  old  age 
with  the  simplicity  and  enthusiasm  of  life's  spring  time.  Righteous- 
ness and  love  were  the  utterances  of  his  life,  and  the  Church  and  the 
world  have  lost  inexpressibly  by  his  translation. 

We  rejoice  with  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Jersey  City  that 
their  sanctuary  is  hallowed  with  the  fragrance  of  his  loveliest  years, 
and  that  over  them  remains  the  benediction  of  his  extended  arms. 

We  bless  God  that  his  sweet,  holy,  and  heroic  spirit  is  perpetuated 
in  his  family,  and  we  pray  that  through  many  generations  of  his 
children's  children  may  continue  in  heavenly  and  unbroken  succes- 
sion the  father's  part  in  the  love  of  God,  the  grace  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

By  order  of  Presbytery. 

Edwin  A.  Bulkley,  Stated  Clerk. 


Extract  from  the  Minutes  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions, 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  held  at  the 
Mission  House,  53  Fifth  Avenue,  Nov.  21st,  the  following  action  was 
taken  : 

The  Board  has  learned  with  sorrow  of  the  death  of  one  of  its 
members.  Rev.  Charles  K.  Imbrie,  D.  D.,  who  died  at  his  home  in 
Jersey  City  on  the  20th  inst  of  pneumonia.  Dr.  Imbrie  had  been  a 
member  of  the  Board  thirty-five  years,  having  been  elected  in  1856. 
As  a  wise  counsellor  and  faithful  friend  of  missions,  he  had  stood  by 
the  Board  through  all  the  adversities  attendant  upon  a  protracted  war, 
as  well  as  in  its  days  of  peace  and  prosperity.  He  had  seen  the  work 
of  foreign  missions  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  extend  from  nine  mis- 
sions to  twenty-three  ;  the  number  of  ordained  missionaries  raised 
from  seventy  to  two  hundred  and  ten,  and  a  total  native  church  mem- 
bership from  nine  hundred  to  nearly  thirty  thousand. 

Dr.  Imbrie's  protracted  service  was  characterized  by  great  regularity 
and  promptness  of  attendance,  by  thoroughness  in  every  special  duty 
assigned  him,  and  by  a  conscientious  regard  for  every  claim  which 
the  position  imposed.  He  was  faithful  in  his  stewardship,  enduring 
to  the  end  in  every  good  word  and  work,  according  to  the  measure  of 
his    strength.       His    intercourse   with    his   associate   members   was 


58 

marked  by  genial  kindness  and  courtesy  which  never  failed.  No  word 
or  act  of  his  has  caused  a  wound  to  any.  Dr.  Imbrie  was  eminently 
a  spiritual  man,  strong  in  the  faith  and  most  positive  in  his  convictions. 

While  devoting  himself  for  so  many  years  to  the  cause  of  missions 
here,  he  also  gave  a  son  for  the  service  on  the  mission  field,  the  Rev. 
Wm.  Imbrie,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  the  Presbyterian  College  of  Tokyo, 
Japan. 

The  Board  would  express  its  deep  sense  of  loss  to  the  great  work 
of  missions,  its  high  appreciation  of  his  faithful  services,  and  the 
many  personal  excellencies  of  their  late  associate ;  also  its  deep  sym- 
pathy for  the  surviving  members  of  his  family. 

In  accordance  with  an  invitation  from  the  pastor  of  the  church  over 
which  Dr.  Imbrie  had  so  long  presided,  it  was  agreed  that  Dr.  Wells, 
President  of  the  Board,  should  represent  the  Board  in  the  funeral  ser- 
vice ;  also  that  the  members  attend  the  funeral  in  a  body. 

It  was  ordered  that  copies  of  this  action  be  sent  to  the  survivors  of 
Dr.  Imbrie's  family,  and  to  the  Session  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Jersey  City. 


